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Daily Discussion Thread: 🎪 Mon 26 Feb 2024
(aussie.zone)
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this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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Hey all. Need some opinions on what I should do.
So today my health insurance policy got canceled automatically, which I didn’t know could happen, due to my payments lapsing.
I have 2 options, I can resume my old policy if I’m able to make a big enough or full payment (which I may not be able to meet).
2nd option is to take out a new policy within the next month.
There’s obviously differences between my old policy and the new policy depending on what I pick for extras and whatnot but I’m not sure what I’m losing out on and how much difference the limit are.
If I retain my old policy it could really strain my finances for awhile and if I’m able to do it at all.
If I don’t I won’t have to pay for the period I wasn’t covered and I’d be on a new plan and have to restart waiting periods.
In my life time I’ve only claimed on dental, optical and some prescription meds but not much else if that helps.
Happy to take some opinions about this, I have some time to deal with this, by end of next week.
I'd probably go with the new policy. Most of the waiting periods are only 2 months, it's only a few more major things that are longer, and the worst case scenario just involves you needing to be treated as a public instead of a private patient.
I would recommend you think about whether the extras is actually value for money - the maximum payment amounts make it hard to get your money's worth from those, you are probably better off putting the money the extras will cost into a savings account to pay for treatments.
I just spent 38 mins on hold to get more information and hung up.
Guess I’ll have to try again later this week. Already spent my entire lunch break on the line with them.
I guess I was more worried about what I’d lose with my main hospital cover and not so much my extras.
Maybe the call centre is office hours only? Another thing to note, is you can buy hospital cover and extras cover from different insurers if you find this is a better deal. No obligation to have it at the same place. Another thing to note is for extras, for a lot of people it’s not good value. Eg if you don’t wear glasses, don’t have hearing aids, no orthodontic work needed, the only thing left is dental. Emergency dental can cost heaps, but often the policies can be limited in what they cover and how much you would get back, so you may be better off just ensuring you have the money put away rather than paying for the insurance. Check the details against what you think your dental expenses would be.
I signed up for extras again as I have some major dental work coming up that should make it worthwhile, and have been tracking how much I am getting back. This year I have maxed out the optometrist benefits on a pair of glasses, had a full checkup and clean followed by four fillings (one of which was quite extensive) and it still hasn't repaid the cost of a years cover.