Let Billy Explores help you get the best health insurance from our panel of insurers

If you’re looking for the best health insurance from our panel of insurers, you’ve come to the right place. Billy Explores makes it super easy to find a great deal, but there’s a lot of things you need to know before you start looking.

So many Australians are paying too much for private health insurance. Furthermore, they’re paying for a bunch of services they don’t even need. Getting the right health insurance for your individual circumstances can feel difficult, but it’s not impossible.

Do Your Research

Finding the right private health insurance can feel like a minefield, considering all the information you need to consider. Here are some things you should understand before you even start shopping around:

• The different types of health insurance
• Levels of health cover
• Extras – do you need them?
• What are the tax benefits?
• What does the private health insurance cover?
• Excess and co-payments
• Waiting periods

All of these things are important when you’re trying to find the best health insurance from our panel of insurers. There’s plenty of variables, so you need to make sure the cover you choose is really suited to your needs. As they say, knowledge is power! Although Billy Explores can do all the hard work comparing plans and prices, it’s essential that you know what you’re looking for.

So many Australians stick with ineffective health insurance that doesn’t suit their circumstances because it seems too hard to change. We’re here to help, and we’ve got all the information you need!

Know the Different Types of Health Insurance

Maybe you’ve heard about hospital cover and extras cover, but did you know there are different levels in both? Let’s take a quick look at each:

Hospital Cover

Hospital cover gives you some financial protection if you’re admitted to the hospital. It gives you some other benefits too, but it will depend on the level of cover you have. Following recent reforms, all insurers provide 4 very clear levels of cover:

• Basic Hospital
• Bronze Hospital
• Silver Hospital
• Gold Hospital

The benefits will vary, so make sure you’re covered for the things you’re likely to use. Some of the benefits you can get are:

• Being admitted to a private hospital
• Types of surgery covered will vary
• No public hospital waiting list for surgery
• Choice of doctors and surgeons
• Private room in a hospital
• Exemption from paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge
• Entitled to Government Private Health Insurance Rebate
• Exemption from Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading if you join before age 31.

All private health funds work differently, and they will have different inclusions, so make sure you understand what you’re covered for.

Extras Cover

Extras refer to the smaller medical costs not dealt with in a hospital. Again, these will vary depending on the level of cover you choose:

• Basic Extras: Usually includes the basics like dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropractic. Ideal for younger Australians who don’t expect to have too many out of the ordinary medical issues.
• Medium Extras: All the benefits of basic cover, but the levels you can claim may increase. Mid-range policies will also usually include major dental, podiatry, psychology, remedial massage, orthodontic treatment.
• Comprehensive Extras: Covers almost everything you could ask for. Again, the annual limits you can claim may increase. The percentage you can be reimbursed per claim may also increase. Comprehensive cover usually includes things like medical appliances, orthotics and natural therapies to name a few.

It’s in the extras component of private health insurance where most people are paying for things they don’t need. We advise checking your policy regularly to see if you still need all of the services you’re paying for.

The Best Health Insurance Really Suits Your Needs

When you’re looking for the best health insurance Australia, the one key thing to remember is that it needs to suit your needs. If you’re a single person in your early 20’s, the cover you need is going to be far different from someone in their 60’s.

Consider where you’re at in life. If you’re a couple, thinking of starting a family, your health insurance should reflect that. Hence you’ll need to make sure you’re covered for all pregnancy-related medical expenses.

The inclusions you’re entitled to can vary considerably between policies, so make sure that your needs are being met.

Understand the Tax Benefits

There are a few ways you can benefit financially if you have private health insurance, even at tax time.

Medicare Levy Surcharge

The Medicare Levy Surcharge is paid by all Australian taxpayers who earn over $90,000 per year (or $180,000 for couples). That is, of course, unless you have private hospital cover. To put it simply, if you’ve got hospital cover, you don’t need to pay the levy.

The Government Private Health Insurance Rebate

The government partly subsidies private health insurance, and you can receive this benefit in two ways:

• A reduction in your monthly health insurance premium. This is done directly through your health insurance provider.
• A rebate when you lodge your annual tax return.

The amount of rebate you receive will depend on your level of income and the type of cover you’ve chosen.

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC)

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) is a Government initiative. Essentially, if you don’t have private hospital cover by age 31 and then decide to get it later, you’ll pay more. Your premium increase by 2% for every year you wait past age 31. You’ll be subject to the inflated price for the first 10 years of your cover.

However, if you take out hospital cover before age 31, you’ll never have to pay the loading, therefore, you’ll always be able to access the lowest rates being offered by your provider.

Compare to Find the Best Health Insurance from our Panel of Insurers

What’s a great way to compare the best health insurance plans from our panel of insurers in Australia? Get in touch with BillyExplores, we do all the hard work to compare the Three P’s – pricing, plans, and policies! If you’re paying too much for health insurance, or your cover simply doesn’t suit your needs anymore, it’s time to shop around. All you need to do is check out our comparison page and let Billy Explores do the hard work for you.