FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE: CASE STUDY

How a family saved over $1,725 in health insurance using moneytime

Profile:

Jenny and Peter live in Victoria and have two children, Stephanie and Mark. Years ago they purchased comprehensive health insurance for the family with one of Australia's top private health funds at a cost of $350.05 per month. With Jenny now staying at home with the two kids, they decided to review their health insurance to save a bit extra for everyday expenses.

Jenny & Peter's health insurance review:

Jenny and Peter were paying for a number of features in their health insurance policy they didn't use, like shoulder replacement and cataract cover. In order to lower their health insurance premium, they decided to remove those features altogether, and get partial cover only for features they didn't think they'd be likely to use, like dialysis and assisted reproductive services. They also tailored their extras, keeping things like general and major dental, orthodontic (to cover Stephanie's braces) as well as chiro, physio and remedial massage, but removing the features they didn't use, like podiatry, psychology, glucose monitors and hearing aids.

After comparing their options on moneytime, Jenny and Peter chose HCF Hospital Savings and General Extras Plus with an excess of $250, with a premium of $206.50 per month.

Benefits:

• Jenny and Peter now save over $1,725 a year on their health insurance premium - enough to cover some school expenses and put more towards groceries every week.
• They chose an Excess to reduce their up-front health insurance premium, but it is only payable once in a calendar year. So no matter how many times different family members get admitted to hospital, they still save over $1,475 in the course of a year. Also, there's no Excess for kids, so it's only payable if Jenny or Peter go to hospital.
• Because their new health cover matches the level of benefits of their old health cover, they won't have any waiting periods to serve before they can start claiming on the benefits of their new health insurance policy.
• By maintaining hospital cover, Jenny and Peter are still exempt from the Medicare levy surcharge and retain all the benefits of Lifetime Health Cover.
• When they applied for health insurance online with moneytime, their application went straight through to their new health fund, HCF, who terminted their old health insurance policy with their previous health fund. No fuss.

Note: it's a good idea to review your private health insurance policy at least once a year, but the above case study is a guide only. Your personal circumstances should be considered when reviewing your health cover, as individual needs can vary greatly.

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