Our Finances Suck Part 9 - Health Insurance

Well life got a bit busy last week with the school holidays so there was no post on my financial series......but this week I am back with a sponsored post from Health Insurance Comparison.

If you are watching your finances then you will probably want to check that you are getting the best value Health Cover for your money....but it can all sound a bit too hard can't it....well then read on, this post is for you.....

Reviewing and Switching Family Cover

If you have had your health insurance policy for at least a year, it may no longer be the best option for your needs or the best value for money. Many families will find that their health insurance needs will change as children get older and start to benefit from a greater range of services, and this is why it is so important to review your cover on a regular basis. This can make sure that you are not paying for services that you are not using and to ensure that you are covered for things that you definitely do need.

Knowing exactly what you will need from your health insurance in the next year puts you in the perfect position to compare your options and see if you can save money by switching to another health fund.

Here is our guide for how to review your policy and some tips for switching if a comparison reveals that you could get a better deal with a different health fund.

How to Review Your Family’s Cover

When you are reviewing your family’s cover, you’ll need to think about the services that are going to become important in the next year - as well as those that are needed currently. This is because waiting periods could otherwise catch you out if you don’t have cover in place in time. Key waiting periods to be aware of include 12 months for major dental and orthodontics and anything between 2 to 6 months for many other Extras services. If you suspect that your family are going to be making better use of Extras services in the not-too-distant future, you’ll need to make sure that they are covered on your policy anything up to a year before you anticipate needing to make a claim.

As well as pinning down what you will need going forwards, have a think about any services on your policy that are not going to be needed anymore. Have you decided not to have any more children? Downgrading to a policy that does not include pregnancy/birth related services will be more cost effective if you don’t see yourself getting any further use out of them.

Once you are confident of the kind of services that your family are likely to need in the coming year, you can compare your options to see if you can get a better deal elsewhere. You can choose to do this yourself and trawl through various health funds to look at their policies, or you can use a comparison service to do the legwork for you.

Switching Your Cover

As a consumer, you have the right to switch your custom to a different health fund whenever you choose to do so. As well as switching to get better value for money, you may also choose to make the jump for superior customer service or because a different health fund may have benefits that aren’t available to you currently.

If you have never previously switched to a different health fund, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s definitely not as complicated as you might think. Portability rules mean that any waiting periods served under your existing health fund should not need to be reserved if you move to a different insurer. This is usually the case if you’re moving health funds but keeping a similar or lower level of cover to before. If you have only partially served a waiting period when you switch, you’ll need to finish serving this with your new health fund before you would be eligible to make a claim for that service. 

If you’re upgrading your cover when you switch, you will need to serve new waiting periods, just as you would do if you upgraded with your current health fund.

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading will not be affected if you switch health funds. Any loading that you have already incurred with go with you, regardless of which health fund you are with. Likewise, if you don’t have any loading when you switch, you won’t incur any by moving to another health fund.

Don’t overpay for your health insurance policy! Whether you’re completely new to insurance or you’re looking to see if your current policy is still competitive, start saving today by comparing private health insurance funds today at HealthInsuranceComparison.com.au 

Well I have to admit that I am way overdue for a check on our health insurance policy to see if we are getting the best value for money as well as the best cover for the stage we are at....which seems to be involving a lot of orthodontics and glasses!!!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT

Do you have private health insurance?  Have you checked that you have the best value cover for your family's current stage?