Whether it’s exercising early in the morning, eating a healthy lunch, or stopping in at the doctor’s at the end of the day, taking care of your health is a 24/7 responsibility. However, we can help you shoulder the burden in one specific area: health insurance. When you’re on your own, it’s important to safeguard your health as exhaustively as possible; and taking out insurance from one of Australia’s great value health funds is an ideal way to do this.
So, why take out health insurance as a single?
Aussies take out health insurance for various reasons.
When you’re young, you probably just want the basics! That probably means
Extras insurance covers treatments not subsidised by Medicare, like dental checkups and physiotherapy. Because of this, it can be terrific value for money, and will mean you get to enjoy the Private Health Insurance Rebate.
As you approach your thirties, taking out hospital cover becomes more of a priority, so you can avoid the Lifetime Health Cover Loading. If you are covered by a hospital insurance policy by July 1st following your 31st birthday, you’ll avoid this loading. If you don’t, you’ll pay 2% more in premiums for every year you choose to not take out cover. For example, if you take it out at age 40, you’ll pay 20% more in premiums!
When you reach middle age, your health gets taken pretty seriously, since it’s something you want to protect over the long haul. Because of this, many older Australians like to take out cover that’s quite comprehensive: treatment in private hospitals is a given, but also access to the full suite of extras available through your health fund.
A recent report by the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare looked at the average waiting times for public hospital admissions for elective surgery this country. This is what they found:
| Days waited (50th percentile) | 35 |
| Days waited (90th percentile) | 253 |
| Per cent waited more than 365 days | 1.80% |
| Source: AIHW, Elective Surgery Waiting Times, pg 25 | |
Sure, you may end up the exception to the rule and not need to wait anywhere near this long for your elective surgery, and you are seen to immediately in emergency situations.
But take a look at what this separate piece of research from IPSOS discovered:
“… 67% of recent elective patients at a public hospital that regarded their waiting time for admission to be unacceptable said they wish they had private hospital insurance at the time of this treatment. This equates to about 1-in-10 of all public hospital elective patients.”
– IPSOS, Health Care and Insurance Australia 2015
This is one of the more compelling reasons why singles across the country enjoy private health insurance: they skip public hospital waiting lists. And you can too.
That’s completely fine. In most cases you can still include extras and hospital benefitsin your cover that relate to your conditions at no extra premium, though you’ll typically have to wait 12 months before you can claim against them.
Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. At least with private health insurance on your side you’ll be able to get on with living life to the fullest, with the peace of mind that if something does happen you have some help when you most need it.
To help you find the right private health fund that fits in with your lifestyle and needs, comparethemarket.com.au has a straightforward online comparison tool that lets you compare a range of health insurance options in the one place.
