I've been looking into the private health options for me and my fiancee. Going to get hospital + basic extras and have found a few packages from NIB (go Chief!), MBF and Medibank which are suitable.

Can anyone give feedback on these guys or any others which you are using? Trying to find a list and compare packages is a much bigger task than I assigned today's working hours for.

yup, after our disasterous melbourne trip this time last year, where petal ended up with a borken arm and we spent 3 days waiting in the public system for the op, we came back to brissy and signed up straight away, with HCF.

they are awesome, hadnt heard of them until petal put me onto them, as she has a deal with her work;

her work pays a percentage of the premium and all of the excess.

get awesome returns on dentist work (our last visit was a combined 290 bux all up, i paid $9), got cash back on my osteopath and we've gone fully private for all the kiddy care and birthing (not sure what sort of money we get back for that)

pretty much as soon you earn 50g plus, its worth your while to sign up

Have a look at AHM (Allied Health Management). That's who we use. Been with them for I think over 15 years. Were good with the birth expenses of our three kids at Sunnybank Private, the missus cancer and my collapsed disc in my neck, now I have a titanium artificial disc in my neck which cost alone $20G, the OP $12G and all I paid was $1,400 in out of pocket expenses.

My only advice is:

Go Private Patient at a public Hospital.

Private hospital: Registered Nurses.... next highest person looking after you.... Consultant (who doesn't want to know s*** unless its a catastrophe).

Public Hospital: RN --> RMO --> Registrar --> Consultant.

RN's, RMO's and generally couple of registrar's on call (on premises) for specific specialties around at least 24/7.
And consultants around during the day.


As for cover.
I'm with MBF on Q-Health Corporate.
It's like $80 (I think?) Per month for full cover.

Shouldn't imagine any of the actual Priv. Health covers would be too bad, just avoid the private hosps.

last edited by J at 12:29:58 27/Nov/07

we're having little jack at sunnybank private

our mates had their kids there and its more like a hotel than a hospital

we're having little jack at sunnybank private

Jack? LAME!

we're having little jack at sunnybank private

My eldest, the only boy is named Jack too. So quite a coincidence having a Jack at Sunnybank.

our mates had their kids there and its more like a hotel than a hospital

We wouldn't of had them anywhere else. Tis a top hospital and the place is great in facilities and care.

I was born there, it's wicked :-P

I'm also considering getting private health cover, had to wait about 3 hours at a public hospital a few weeks ago, and left when i was stil 13th in line. Pretty horrible experience, i just have no idea where to start looking...

Have to decide if you want hospital only, extras only or both - typically both is a good idea from what I've been reading. Then just go to a bunch of insurers web sites and punch in your details to see what you get;

www.nib.com.au
www.hcf.com.au
www.medibank.com.au
www.mbf.com.au
www.ahm.com.au

Some have good promos like waiving waiting periods, others have stupid promos like $150 puma gear. I've pretty much decided on HCF after spooky mentioned them and they are waiving 2 & 6 months waiting. AHM was a little dearer than what I'd like to pay at the moment.

we're having little jack at sunnybank private
Jack? LAME!

i now have a new goal in life, im going to raise jack to be a cage fighter and hes going to come after you to avenge you calling his name lame

you're not actually going to call him jack....

Yeah for real... you may as well call him "John".

your gay
jack is fine

Jack is fine. We narrowed his name down to Jack, Tom or Jim (surprise surprise).

I at first wanted Tom, the missus James (I said no, it's Jim not James). She said no way. So we decided on Jack. To be honest I'm now glad we didn't name him Tom, I much prefer Jack. His middle name is Henry, thus Jack Henry. A nice strong name.

Jack Bauer Broughton

that could work

NO WAY!!!

HENRY IS MY JACKS MIDDLE NAME TOO!!!!
coz my mums favourite unkle was a henry, and a legend, and we like the name

if your surname is broughton, im consulting my lawyers right now

spook ... do you have 2 accounts? be honest

Don't go dissing the name Jack, or Jack Bauer will come and kick your ass

Im with Medibank - always been really happy.

Have had ongoing health issues, back problems and glasses so its generally worth it for that alone.

In recent years have had some emergency situations and couldnt recommend higher being a private patient in a public hospital.

Medibank also have bonuses such as the family bonus, each member gets about $200.00 put into a bonuses account every calendar year to be used to cover excess and gaps etc.

The longer you are with them the more you get back etc. Always really helpful and knowledgable staff on the phone and in the offices.

mbf full hospital with lowest excess. i don't have any health issues but when the s*** goes down it gets mighty expensive.

edit: also with medicare surcharge, 30% rebate and the penalty for late joining it makes taking out full private health cover before 30 a no brainer, so if you don't have it yet, seriously consider.

last edited by infi at 14:31:49 27/Nov/07

NO WAY!!!

HENRY IS MY JACKS MIDDLE NAME TOO!!!!
coz my mums favourite unkle was a henry, and a legend, and we like the name

Wow how cool is that. Pretty amazing. Henry for us came from a Movie charcater played by John Wayne and his character's name was "John Henry" and they always tagged the Henry on it and I really liked how that flowed and sounded. When Jack came along, "Jack Henry" also flowed and sounded real good and also I feel gave him a strong mans name when he gets older.

if your surname is broughton, im consulting my lawyers right now

Nope, but s*** it would have been really eerie if it had.

edit: also with medicare surcharge, 30% rebate and the penalty for late joining it makes taking out full private health cover before 30 a no brainer, so if you don't have it yet, seriously consider.

As long as you earn enough to get hit by surcharge.
ps. Penalty can now be reset.
pps. Its before 31
Get advice from an accountant or advisor or someone not on the forum.

Also I wouldn't bother with lowest excess unless its fairly common you going to hospital (kids being a prime example, or you think you have a condition :P ), I believe $500 is the highest you can go and still qualify for rebates (Like I have a clue). ie. I managed to make it to my crusty state avoiding hospitals.

Extra's are a rort unless you need glasses, have dental issues and love to spend money on fruity natropaths and things.

I am with MBF, no complaints. Dental doesn't sound as good as Spook's, but it makes physio around half-price which works out well.

If you want to compare health funds,covers & prices the best website to go to is privatehealth.gov.au

This site shows you all Australian registered health funds and how much the premiums are what each level of cover includes/excludes etc

Some Fat Bastard = Psycho! ?

it seemed logical cause Psy has fallen off the face of the earth and you two have identical neck work done :/

iselect.com.au ?

Iselect will only suggest certain funds to members as funds have to pay for iselect to advertise their products

they don't give you all the funds covers and pricing like the privatehealth website does.

just shop around them all, and get the one with the best current promo.

Some Fat Bastard = Psycho! ?

Nope. When Psycho had his done it was a year or two after mine and I recall we actually discussed this on this very forum when he showed the X-Rays at the time. We discussed how amazing the new technology had become whereby we no longer had to get fusion performed which basically doesn't allow the vertebrae to rotate or flex, but with the new artificial disc it functions like a real disc and gives complete mobility back without any pain.

Also I think Psycho was the result of a inherited degenerative disease whereas mine was the result of a motorcycle accident I had when I was 19 and had been visiting physio every 6 weeks for over 25 years to relive neck pain before it finally gave way and just collapsed. I think we even had the same neurosurgeon, Dr. Bruce Hall.