Private Health Insurance information

Private-sector health insurance against the public health system?

There are a number of possible explanations why private health insurance can be a better choice than reliance exclusively on the state system, the most important being that your insurance allows you to select your own health care provider and your own physician. The HIF currently serves more than 1300 private clinics across the nation, and we have also entered into an agreement with the Australian Health Service Alliance (AHSA) named AccessGap to minimise shortfalls and other outage expenses for our members wherever possible.

Moreover, while of course you will be receiving immediate care or surgery of course for urgent/life-threatening condition through the official system, another advantage of having private hospitals coverage is that you will have a much shorter wait for any chosen operations that you may need in the near term. A 2014-15 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare survey, for example, found that NSW clients in need of artificial limb replacements spent an average of six month awaiting their chosen operation in the state system, and 6.6% of the NSW clients in need of artificial limb replacements who received artificial limb replacements in the state system awaited their chosen operation over twelve month of the year.

Private health insurance also allows you to select your own surgical appointment, while in the state system there is a chance that you will be pushed if another person needs more urgent than you. In 2000, the federal government also launched a number of incentive schemes for private health insurance, such as the health insurance discount and the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) reduction, as well as monetary sanctions such as the retirement burden of lifelong health insurance if you do not take out health insurance by the 31st of December.

However, the need iness of the discount and MLS threshold was assessed in 2012, which put even more strain on the state system (as some individuals had to give up their private cover), resulting in even longer waits in the state system. Blanket yourself with HIF for a little extra.

Besides private health insurance, we also provide a number of " extras " coverage possibilities (sometimes called " additional therapy " or " general care "). HIF Extras insurance even insures you for patient transportation and "healthy lifestyle" types of service such as fitness studio membership, sports physical, stop-smoking, and screening for cancers.