What is Private Health Insurance?

As with other insurance, private health insurance is paid on a yearly or monthly schedule and gives you cover for a range medical treatments that may arise. There a varying levels of cover which are costed accordingly. Packages can include hospital care, ancillary (dental), and claims for special medicines or procedures. Not everything is covered by private medical insurance, and most funds have an excess fee to be paid. An excess is an amount you agree to pay initially before the fund is liable. For instance, if the excess is $500 then any money owed equal to or under that amount is payable by you. Anything that is more than $500 is paid by the fund. What you are prepared to pay as an excess will directly affect the premium you'll pay.

Private health insurance is a very important component of any budget and can save you a lot of money. Funds cover such costs as having a baby, operations, recovery time in hospital, special care procedures and even some good health practices. The costs do vary and it is really important to do your homework and read the small print of any fund contract or agreement. Cheapest is not always best as this can sometimes have hidden costs like excesses or less cover in some areas. If you can't make head nor tail of terms and conditions, ask the fund to explain to you in plain terms exactly what they mean. Take notes and compare with others.

Limitations are sometimes placed as to how much you can claim in any one area in a 12 month period. There may also be caps of the maximum the fund will pay out for certain procedures as well.

Here are the main sections covered by private health insurance funds:

Hospital Care--this covers whether you want a private hospital, a private room, medical services, ambulance fees. not every procedure is covered at the same rate. Some aren't covered at all and others may have exclusion periods. For example you couldn't claim for having a baby if you'd only joined a month ago. Most funds have a 9 month period you would need to be signed up for before they would cover you for the birth of your baby.

Dental--Dental can be covered as an entity of it's own. So you can have dental cover and not hospital cover if you wished and vice versa. There will be varying exclusion periods and excesses involved. Also not everything is covered as far as cosmetic dentistry either. Dentistry can have sections such as general, major dentistry, Endodontics and Orthodontics.

Optical--generally this deals with prescribed spectacles and contact lenses. It can be very individual to the fund.

Some private health cover includes things such as Podiatry, Remedial Massage, Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Physiotherapy, hearing aids, Psychology and blood glucose monitors. So you can see how very important it is to research the funds and look at your lifestyle and age, and find the best choice for you.

Having private medical insurance takes the burden off the public medical system, and in most cases off your wallet. Some people use the argument that they have never been sick a day in their lives, so why waste the money. But people who have never been burgled, or had a car accident still insure their homes and cars. Why is it so difficult to insure yourself against a possible medical mishap? For this reason health funds have taken into account that supporting people having healthy lifestyles is a good idea. So many have included such things as Yoga or gym memberships in their packages.

Take your time and ask questions as to what is right for you.