What Health Cover Do You Need?
What Health Cover Do You Need?
Private health insurance ombudsman Norm Branson says policy holders sometimes turn up at hospital to discover they are not covered. This is often because they've bought a cheap, low-level product.
"There are a lot of (products) out there that don't cover you for much at all," Branson says. "I don't think products that have some of the restrictions that are around at the present moment are appropriate to the marketplace."
In selecting a policy, ombudsman Branson suggests going for the top hospital cover you can afford and forget ancillaries.
"If I had a limited amount of money, I would buy the most expensive hospital cover that I could possibly afford and disregard everything else because it's hospital costs that finally get people into trouble," he says.
"You're not going to get a bill for up to $40,000 when you go to your dentist.
"But you can get a bill for that amount when you end up in a private hospital.
"People don't realise that if you have a heart attack, you're going to spend three or four days in intensive care at $2000 a day. If you're not covered for that in a private hospital, you're going to be up for half to three-quarters of it yourself. Nobody's got that sort of money lying around."
