With private health insurance premiums set to rise on 1 April 2017, now is the time to assess whether or not you can find a better deal and save yourself money.
Of course, ensuring you have the right private health insurance cover is as important as how much you are paying in premiums. These five tips will give you an indication of what to look for when comparing policies.
- Consider your lifestyle and whether or not you need hospital cover, extras or a combination of both. Whichever you decide, ensure you carefully review your current policy so you know what you are covered for and can confidently shop around, as policies vary between providers.
- There are certain types of conditions for which people are more or less likely to require treatment, and insurance cover, depending on their age and current lifestyle. To help reduce your premium, select the treatments you are more likely to need and exclude others.
- Consider restricted benefits for the treatment of certain conditions for an agreed period of time, whereby if you need such treatment, the health provider pays less and you contribute more.
- Depending on your fund and policy, you may be able to agree to pay a higher excess and/or a co-payment towards hospital treatment costs, which reduces your premium.
- If you decide that your current policy is right for you, consider paying your premium up front, before the increase applies. Note: this doesn’t guarantee your provider will not make changes to policy rebates or annual limits for covered benefits or the services covered.
For more information on private health insurance, how rebates work and to compare polices, visit privatehealth.gov.au
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