Medicare v Private Health Insurance - Different strategies - Are you covered?

[KhunHeineken]

The topic of relying on Medicare in Australia for major medical treatment, versus private health insurance, either in Thailand, or Australia, has been raised in the Aged Pension Thread, which off topic in that thread.

 

Two members have suggested starting a specific thread on the topic. 

 

The below is not a poll, just some questions that may categorize members, and perhaps they can explain why they have chosen their particular strategy.

 

1)  Do you have private health insurance covering you in Thailand?

 

2) Do you have private health insurance in Australia? 

 

3) Do you have private health insurance in both Thailand and Australia?

 

4) Are you uninsured?

 

5) Are you self insured, or self funded? 

 

 

If I have missed an option, feel free to post it. 

 

I have private health insurance in Australia, and in Thailand.  I have openly stated I do not have faith in the public Medicare system in Australia to properly treat me, and in a timely manner.

 

The main reasons for this is you do not get to chose your doctor, so you could get someone very inexperienced, or not as competent, and the waiting list for elective surgery being years for some operations.

 

I know I can not claim on the Australian private health insurance policy inside Australia.  My strategy is, if I need some type of elective surgery, like a knee or hip replacement, I will fly back to Australia, get a top surgeon, and my own room in a private hospital, and the operation will be done within days, or weeks.  The insurance company will pick up most of the bill.  There may be a "gap" to pay, which I am prepared for.  

 

Should I have a motorbike accident in Thailand, for example, and need emergency treatment, to the point I can not board a plane, then I take my chances with what doctor I get in Thailand, and the insurance company pays the bill here.  

 

So, I am in group 3. 

[Fat is a type of crazy]

Have credit card insurance in Thailand for what is now two or three months at a time and private insurance in Australia. 

Your comments on Medicare are harsh - show me a health care system in the world that doesn't have stories of people dying unexpectedly and or mistakes. The fact is in many cases the cost of using your private insurance is higher than simply using Medicare and I consider the big hospitals often have better set ups than smaller private ones.  So in some cases I would use Medicare. The benefit of private insurance is to get fast treatment and to not have tax penalties while working.

If longer  periods are spent in Thailand might have to pay for some policy to cover for emergencies when I can't get back home -  see what happens.

Edited 2 hours ago by Fat is a type of crazy