What is the advantage of private health insurance.......

[crystal**flake]

I'm really wondering (again) whether its really is worth it.

I had to go to emergency on the weekend and was there for 13 hours!

I have private health insurance and I'm wondering................why!

I'm after peoples point of view on the advantages of having it.

Also having to go to see specialists too.

[*mrgrizz*]

did you stub your toe?

the advantage is no ques for elective surgery's.

and that is about it.

i recently had a day procdeure in a private hospital. total cost was $1100, i had to pay more than $500.

self insurance is looking very good

but i can't do that, because if i was to drop the cover i would be charged extra tax

[polksaladallie]

You won't get butchered in the middle of the night by whatever amateur is on duty, like my daughter did having a simple appendicectomy.  The results took years to rectify.  I joined private insurance as soon as I could afford it, and in the meantime sold possessions and worked at more than one job to pay for private care.

Not to mention working for years in public hospitals would put anyone off going there for treatment if not necessary.

[soulart2]

I've just spent 4/5 days in hosp. The ambos took me to the public hosp. and when I'd been stabilised I was transferred to the private hosp. I could have stayed in the public but I prefer the private one. One more bed for someone who needs admission but doesn't have PHI. and if you had to wait 13 hours, it mustn't have been an emergency crystal or you would have been seen earlier....I would have thought Sydney would have after hours medical centres?

[boris1gary]

My older brother had a serious op over the Xmas break just gone in a Public hospital in Sydney, best surgeon, best care. First visit he tells us that a bloke came in to the room my brother was in and demanded that he have the bed my brother was in because he was privately insured, (window view), I won't repeat what my brother told him but even the nurses were giggling at the tosser. As for those that say you get better treatment in private, that is just not the case as surgeons etc work in both, they just charge more for exactly the same thing in private. 

[nicnacs_4u]

I am also in hospital ambulance first to my local public hospital and I emergency for over 8 hours..very well cared for and not in the least worried about how long I was in there for..if you are sick you will be attended to!!.I was transferred to a private hospital with my private doctor..PHI I have always had and never if I can help it be without...when u r ill it's one less thing to worry about. .imo

[nicnacs_4u]

Btw once I was stabalised and had testing etc I was waiting to get transferred. .afraid that's life and you just deal with it.nursing staff do a wonderful job

[boris1gary]

There is one small private hospital where I live, it's kind of a joke because the patients in there have to wait until surgeons from the public hospital have time to fit them in. If the private system is so wonderful then we should stop the private health rebate and let it stand on its own feet. So much rubbish about the "budget emergency" and yet the private health rebate costs......

Dan Harrison (Sydney Morning Herald, 10-01-2014) notes that its “annual cost has risen faster than any other component of government health spending, from $1.4 billion in 1999-2000 to $5.5 billion in 2012-13.” It is now estimated to be $6 billion per annum – an indirect handout (corporate welfare) to an otherwise unsustainable private hospital system. 

[katymatey*]

I have a member of my extended family in a difficult situation atm. His knee, which has been a bit troublesome for a while finally gave up the ghost.

He doesn't have PHI even though he could well afford it. He is now on the waiting list for tkr in a public hospital. Came as a bit of a shock to him that he would not have his choice of surgeon, and that his wait could be a long one. The last  expense that I would drop would be my private health cover. 

[boris1gary]

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@katymatey* wrote:

I have a member of my extended family in a difficult situation atm. His knee, which has been a bit troublesome for a while finally gave up the ghost.

He doesn't have PHI even though he could well afford it. He is now on the waiting list for tkr in a public hospital. Came as a bit of a shock to him that he would not have his choice of surgeon, and that his wait could be a long one. The last  expense that I would drop would be my private health cover. 

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My elderly aunty just went through that surgery, Public Hospital and Public Rehab - couldn't have gone better and she had been in a weehheel chair for a couple of years before the surgery. She was too scared to do anything about it and when she finally decided she would she had to wait a while because of other health issues. Once she was Ok'd for the op she was also told it would be a long wait but in the end she only waited a little over 2 months.  She is back home now and out of her wheel chair and on a walking frame, pain free.

[boris1gary]

Just wondering, is there a list of surgeons rated by their peers that is available for those with private cover?