4 ms·

Check out how much private insurance costs in Australia: http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dynamic/healthfundlist.aspx http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dynamic/he

Check out how much private insurance costs in Australia: http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dynamic/healthfundlist.aspx http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dynamic/healthfundlist.aspx Most plans are around A$100/month or less

Dylanlacey 16y ago
Thanks, you saved me from having to do this myself. $70, Basic hospital, extras like dental work and optical ($300 / yr... Two new pairs of glasses, effectively, or the year's supply of contact lenses), private rooms.
netcan 16y ago
Australian private health insurance isn't necessarily a good comparison for two reasons. First, it's a complimentary insurance meaning that it's for extras that people otherwise pay out of pocket or go without like dental, private hospital rooms, etc. It doesn't cover the really expensive unpredictable things like major surgery, cancer treatment. The basics (eg GP visits) and the big expenses are covered by medicare. Second, it is subsidized from both ends. The insurance companies get paid by the commonwealth and the expense is mostly tax deductible. You really can't use the cost to us as a measure of what it costs to run.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- nerfhammer 16y ago
  I also looked at insurance intended for non-Australians living in Australia (not covered at all by national insurance) and found prices to be pretty much the same
  - bodhi 16y ago
    You may or may not know, but non-Australians living in Australia are covered by Medicare (depending on your visa type), so that could explain the similar pricing.
    - nerfhammer 16y ago
      It's dependent on your nationality and whether your nation has a reciprocal health coverage agreement with Australia, which many EU countries do but most countries do not (including the US of course).
  - netcan 16y ago
    From Wikipedia the total annual cost of medicare (the australian national insurer) is about $18.3b, $900 - $1000 per person living in Australia. The graphs comparing total healthcare spending of various countries put Australia's at close to $3500 per capita, so medicare must only be part of the total. There are some funds going into health in one off ways like states funding hospitals, donations, people paying above medicare rebate amounts (usually about 30% more for GPs in my experience). There's drugs, some of which are subsidized. Then of course there's private insurance which a substantial portion of people have. I had private insurance for foreign students for a few years. From what I understood it's basically a tax administered by an insurance agency. Basically it's complicated and subsidized in all sorts of ways. It's like that in The States too. You can't just look at a doctor's bill or insurance premium in one place and assume that it's representing cost in some meaningful way.
- narcissus 16y ago
  One other interesting thing about private health insurance in Australia is that once you reach a certain income threshold, if you do not have any extra private health insurance, your income tax rate goes up a percent or two. That wasn't intended to argue the point either way, though, I was just saying :)

Dylanlacey 16y ago

Thanks, you saved me from having to do this myself. $70, Basic hospital, extras like dental work and optical ($300 / yr... Two new pairs of glasses, effectively, or the year's supply of contact lenses), private rooms.

netcan 16y ago

Australian private health insurance isn't necessarily a good comparison for two reasons. First, it's a complimentary insurance meaning that it's for extras that people otherwise pay out of pocket or go without like dental, private hospital rooms, etc. It doesn't cover the really expensive unpredictable things like major surgery, cancer treatment. The basics (eg GP visits) and the big expenses are covered by medicare. Second, it is subsidized from both ends. The insurance companies get paid by the commonwealth and the expense is mostly tax deductible. You really can't use the cost to us as a measure of what it costs to run.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
nerfhammer 16y ago
I also looked at insurance intended for non-Australians living in Australia (not covered at all by national insurance) and found prices to be pretty much the same
- bodhi 16y ago
  You may or may not know, but non-Australians living in Australia are covered by Medicare (depending on your visa type), so that could explain the similar pricing.
  - nerfhammer 16y ago
    It's dependent on your nationality and whether your nation has a reciprocal health coverage agreement with Australia, which many EU countries do but most countries do not (including the US of course).
- netcan 16y ago
  From Wikipedia the total annual cost of medicare (the australian national insurer) is about $18.3b, $900 - $1000 per person living in Australia. The graphs comparing total healthcare spending of various countries put Australia's at close to $3500 per capita, so medicare must only be part of the total. There are some funds going into health in one off ways like states funding hospitals, donations, people paying above medicare rebate amounts (usually about 30% more for GPs in my experience). There's drugs, some of which are subsidized. Then of course there's private insurance which a substantial portion of people have. I had private insurance for foreign students for a few years. From what I understood it's basically a tax administered by an insurance agency. Basically it's complicated and subsidized in all sorts of ways. It's like that in The States too. You can't just look at a doctor's bill or insurance premium in one place and assume that it's representing cost in some meaningful way.
narcissus 16y ago
One other interesting thing about private health insurance in Australia is that once you reach a certain income threshold, if you do not have any extra private health insurance, your income tax rate goes up a percent or two. That wasn't intended to argue the point either way, though, I was just saying :)