This post is for new migrants who are over 30 years old.
Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) is a Government initiative designed to encourage people to take out hospital insurance earlier in life and to maintain their cover.
If you take out private insurance after 30 years old, then you will pay the Lifetime Health Cover loading on top of the premium of any hospital cover you may later purchase.
If you do not have hospital cover with an Australian registered health fund on the 1st of July following your 31st birthday and then decide to take out hospital cover later in life, you will pay a 2% loading on top of your premium for every year you are aged over 30.
For example, if you take out hospital cover at age 40 you will pay 20% more than someone who first took out hospital cover at age 30. The maximum loading is 70%.
Once you have paid a LHC loading on your private hospital insurance for 10 continuous years, the loading is removed as long as you retain your hospital cover.
If you are a new migrant to Australia aged over 31, then you have <b><i>one year from the date you were registered for Medicare</i></b> benefits to purchase private hospital cover without incurring a loading. You can check with Medicare to confirm what date you registered for LHC purposes.
If you know you have medical conditions that may require medical attention later, get a private health insurance as early as possible.
I'd like to share my personal experience. We arrived Sep 2010. I got my private health insurance from Medibank 12 Jan 2011. I had no signs nor symptoms but back in the Phils I had an irregular ECG result. I saw a cardio in Jul 2011. I passed the stress test with flying colours. My ECG results were good. The cardio was happy with the results until I told him of my strong family history of heart problems. He became a "healthy" paranoid. He booked me for a CT coronary angiogram. He was not happy with the results so he booked me for the conventional angiogram. All these were covered by Medicare. After the angiogram, a NSW health worker talked to me as I was lying in the recovery room. She told me I had 3 blocked arteries and I need a bypass. Coming from a family whose history in heart problem was very strong, my only question was "is it covered?". The reason was when my brother had his bypass in Manila many years ago, he had to sell his house and lot. I was told Medicare covers for the expense. But because I have Medibank, I went to a private hospital, chose my own surgeon (one of the best in Australia as recommended by my cardio), chose my own schedule (because my condition was not an emergency situation) and I only paid for $275 when I got admitted to the hospital. $250 as my share per my Medibank plan and $25 for Foxtel. All else was paid for by Medicare and Medibank. No gap. I had a triple heart bypass in Jan 2012. If I were in the Philippines, I would not have undergone the surgery because of the cost. Btw, my surgery was a week after the 1 year waiting period since I got the insurance. Who would have thought I would need it that soon? You'll never know.
If I had no private health, I would still be able to get the surgery at no cost. The only disadvantage is, I would have been in a public hospital, i cannot choose my surgeon and I will have to wait until I can get a schedule.
Hope you learn something from my experience. Thanks for reading.