Understanding Private Health Insurance in Australia

Private Health Insurance in Australia can be complicated and confusing. This is my first blog post because I have seen so many patients distressed to find out that they don’t have the level of cover that they thought they had.

The first thing to say is that every Australian is covered by Medicare courtesy of the Australian taxpayer. All pubic hospitals are funded by medicare and it is possible to have health care that is 100% covered by the government if you want. Some people prefer to have private healthcare and see a doctor who works in the private sector and admits their patients to a private hospital. If you want this, you either need to self-fund (pay everything out of pocket) or have private health insurance.

There are many reasons to want private healthcare including the ability to choose your own doctor, not being at the mercy of ever expanding public hospital waiting lists, being treated exclusively by consultants and having true continuity of care. I hope that the slides below help you to understand different insurance products and choose the one that’s right for you and your family.

This is a brief snapshot designed to help you understand private health insurance. I would encourage everyone to look carefully at what each insurance product actually covers you for - this is essential to have the level of cover that you want.