Private Health Insurance

[grandmoon]

Would you keep paying for full Private Health Insurance after you retire and go onto the pension and get your Health Care Card.

[sandypas]

A friend of ours had a heart operation and was a private patient.  All over, he was $6000 out of pocket.  Another friend had the same operation as a public patient and it didn't cost her anything.  I think it depends if you can afford the out of pocket expenses.  By the way, because she needed it quickly, she had no longer wait.  Had it not been so urgent, she may have had to wait.

[purple_haize]

Oh and me dont have private health cover. In recent years, I have had two major bowel operations, went public, had my own room and my own surgeon that I was seeing before I went to hospital and I had to pay nothing.

I was on a waiting list for the first operation, but it became very urgent and after 4 months was put in straight away.

Personally, I would never get it and I am on the age pension now.

[nohousework]

My Mum had a Total Knee replacement in August 2012 and had it done privately. She did not have to pay anything as her private cover covered everything including Rehabilitation. I think it depends on what your Surgeon depends to charge. 

She was admitted again to a Private Hospital in mid November 2012 and spent 11 weeks their having surgery, Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy. Unfortunately she passed away on the 20th January this year, but because she had private insurance she didn't pay anything and she had a private room for 11 weeks.

[*crikey*mate*]

MIL has now waited 3 months for a pacemaker.

Maybe it's ok to wait that long for those sorts of things?

I'm sure the major things get immediate attention etc in the public system, but what about the smaller things?

My mum is of the older generation and she seems to get a fair few smaller things needing attention. Smaller but still painful, or at the very least frustrating and inconvenient.

She just spent 9 or 10 days in hospital with a fracture in her foot. I wonder how long they would have let her stay in the public hospital? They let her stay until she felt comfortable and confident enough to go home and manage with her walky thing she has to use till it's healed which included an extra day until she was able to get those special handrails etc installed in her bathrooms.

(Her other foot is dodgy too atm - someone rode over it on one of those motorized whellchair/scooter things a while back and it's still giving her grief, so now with two sore feet she's a bit shaky on em atm)

[crystal**flake]

My inlaws have been in and out of hospital over the last few years and went public and they were treated really well, they have never had private insurance.

[crystal**flake]

I'm actually thinking to myself is private hospital insurance worth it?

[*crikey*mate*]

I think that every time the fees are due Crys - but then one of us invariably ends up in hospital and I thank my lucky stars I still had the choice of where I/We wanted to be treated.

[purple_haize]

MIL has now waited 3 months for a pacemaker.

Maybe it's ok to wait that long for those sorts of things?

I'm sure the major things get immediate attention etc in the public system, but what about the smaller things?

My mum is of the older generation and she seems to get a fair few smaller things needing attention. Smaller but still painful, or at the very least frustrating and inconvenient.

She just spent 9 or 10 days in hospital with a fracture in her foot. I wonder how long they would have let her stay in the public hospital? They let her stay until she felt comfortable and confident enough to go home and manage with her walky thing she has to use till it's healed which included an extra day until she was able to get those special handrails etc installed in her bathrooms.

(Her other foot is dodgy too atm - someone rode over it on one of those motorized whellchair/scooter things a while back and it's still giving her grief, so now with two sore feet she's a bit shaky on em atm)

Public hospitals dont send you home until you are well. I have spent alot of time at different stages in the last 35yrs. in public hospital system, I usually go to the same hospital, it isnt big like some public hospitals, and have never had a problem with being let out too soon.

Alot depends on the hospital, I guess, but this hospital I am talking about is not that big, I had my daughter there 34yrs. ago, and they were wonderful then, and are wonderful now.

[crystal**flake]

I think that every time the fees are due Crys - but then one of us invariably ends up in hospital and I thank my lucky stars I still had the choice of where I/We wanted to be treated.

Thats the thing, in Sydney you are generally treated at the major hospitals anyways.