Private health insurance...

[Bluefreak]

OK I keep hearing the government pumping private health, they are taxing high income earners a surcharge on medicare if they don't have it, many people talk about the benefits but so far no-one has convinced me to take it out... If I may relay 3 true events concerning my family/friends and private health, read them and then try to convince me why I should spend the money...

1. Father in-law: Required a hip replacement, has had private health insurance(PHI) all his adult life and had never claimed anything significant. His specialist asks if he has PHI, he says yes... Specialist hands him a phone and says cancel it or pay the $10-$15k in gap... father in-law questions the waiting list(being harped on at the time as being in excess of 12 months for elective surgery). Surgeon assures him he wont wait much longer than via his PHI... 3 weeks later he has the surgery in the public system, NO gap fee...

2. Sister in-law: PHI'd up to her eye balls, maximum cover for anything & everything you can imagine... Pregnant with 2nd child, booked into her nice luxury private hospital and all is going well... Seeing the same obstetrician(sp) as my partner, we are bulk billed and she is paying a small gap...??? She goes into labour 2 weeks early, no beds available at the chosen hospital... No beds available at other local private hospitals... Ends up sharing a room with 3 other women at a public hospital and not so much as a sorry from her PHI...

3. Mate at work: Requires arthroscopic surgery on his knee... Again a specialist recommends ditching PHI and going public. 6 weeks after the first specialist consultation, he has had his surgery and is on the mend, without the gap fee...

Just as a side note, an interesting thing happened to us when we had our first child... I elected to pay to go as a public patient to a private hospital for the birth... We purchased a birthing package for $2300... This package covered everything including surgeon/anethisest( I know that one's spelled wrong) should emergency surgery be required. It gave us 5 days in a private recovery room and nice meals served with alcohol. Something else it provided was a guaranteed bed, which I questioned and was informed of the following... For a period of 3 weeks prior/post the due date, a bed will be guaranteed available... In writing and confirmed by several staff. They were not shy about stating that public patients paying to go private were their preferred custom... Quite simply, they make more money from it and as such will guarantee a bed which they will not do for a PHI patient.