Buying health insurance - advice needed

[mudcrab]

I am on a Bridging visa and applied for 820 partner visa last November 2018.   I applied for Medicare card just after this and received a temporary blue card.  In May 2019 I received a government letter explaining about the Lifetime Health cover loading and that, should I decide to take private health insurance, should do so before November 2019.

My visa agent says it is not a requirement of the 820 visa to get private medical insurance but suggested, if I wanted, could take out standard visitor cover.  (Yes I will go back and get clarification)

I am just getting rather confused as several people have said they thought that I should not be eligible yet to be taking medical insurance and why had the government sent me this letter now?  Even one insurance company is querying.

Can anyone give me chapter and verse as to whether the above seems correct.  thanks.

[Loopylu]

Once you get a permanent visa, you have 12 months to get private health insurance to avoid the loading that is applied for every year that you are over 31 years of age.  This was what applied when I got my PR a few years ago.  Before that I was on a 457 and then a bridging visa when my 457 expired and I was waiting for my partner visa application to be processed.

When my husband returned to Australia from the UK in 2008 after 15 years out of the country, he was 45 but again was subject to the 12 month rule to arrange private health insurance to avoid loading as he was not resident in Australia when the relevant laws came in.

[mudcrab]

Thank Loopylu.   That seems to suggest that the letter I have received from Dept of Health is an error ?

[paulhand]

1 hour ago, mudcrab said:

Thank Loopylu.   That seems to suggest that the letter I have received from Dept of Health is an error ?

“If you are aged 31 or over, and you registered for interim or full Medicare benefits (usually a blue or green card) during the 2018-19 financial year – You have until the first anniversary of the date you registered for your Medicare card to purchase private hospital cover without incurring LHC ‘loading’. If you purchase hospital insurance after the anniversary date has lapsed, then you will incur a loading which increases the cost of insurance. The older you are at the time of purchase, the higher the cost. If you have commenced or intend to commence private hospital cover within 1 year of Medicare registration, you will need to confirm your registration date by requesting a letter from Medicare - contact Medicare (Department of Human Services) or visit your local Medicare branch. Supply the letter to your health insurer on or after joining to have your loading reassessed.”

https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/faq.htm#LHCLetter

 

[mudcrab]

Thanks.  So it makes no difference what visa I am on ?

[paulhand]

1 hour ago, mudcrab said:

Thanks.  So it makes no difference what visa I am on ?

“New migrants to Australia 

If you are a new migrant to Australia, then your LHC base day is the later of

• the 1 July following your 31st birthday; or 
• the first anniversary of your full Medicare registration. 

You have until that day to take out private hospital cover without incurring a Lifetime Health Cover loading.

 

Your 'full Medicare registration' refers to you registered for interim or full Medicare benefits (usually a blue or green Medicare card). Reciprocal Medicare does not count for LHC purposes.”

[Ken]

You should also give some thought as to whether or not it is worthwhile buying health insurance now just to avoid the LHC. If your family income is below the threshold ($180,000) and likely to remain below it then you'll never have to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge regardless of whether you have health insurance or not. On the other hand if it's already above the threshold then you are going to have to pay the Surcharge if you don't take out the insurance. You can do that at any time but if you do it when you are over 31 you'll have to pay an extra 2% to 20% extra for the privilege if you miss the first anniversary of your full Medicare registration.

[Marisawright]

12 hours ago, mudcrab said:

Thanks.  So it makes no difference what visa I am on ?

It doesn't look like it.

I think what confuses the issue is that you got an interim card.   Once you've got that card the clock starts ticking, no matter what visa you're on.

The question is whether you should've got the interim card in the first place.  I always understood that on a temporary visa, you couldn't get one, and you were only covered (for more limited services)  by the reciprocal agreement. However I've now seen a few British migrants getting an interim card on a temp visa - I do wonder whether it's the right thing or if the people at Medicare don't know the rules?

[mudcrab]

8 hours ago, Ken said:

You should also give some thought as to whether or not it is worthwhile buying health insurance now just to avoid the LHC. If your family income is below the threshold ($180,000) and likely to remain below it then you'll never have to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge regardless of whether you have health insurance or not. On the other hand if it's already above the threshold then you are going to have to pay the Surcharge if you don't take out the insurance. You can do that at any time but if you do it when you are over 31 you'll have to pay an extra 2% to 20% extra for the privilege if you miss the first anniversary of your full Medicare registration.

Many thanks.  I am actually retired in my 60s and my saved investment income is OK but erratic ( not yet old enough for the UK state pension since they moved the goalposts) so I cannot say what my income will be in the future.  My partner has good income currently (still working).  Unlikely we would go over that threshold but you never know in life.  That lotto ticket might come up!

Reading all the above (thanks everyone) I think I will consider taking a basic or basic plus insurance if my income allows.  I can always stop it in the future I guess if finances take a downturn..... or up the cover if income goes up

[mudcrab]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

It doesn't look like it.

I think what confuses the issue is that you got an interim card.   Once you've got that card the clock starts ticking, no matter what visa you're on.

The question is whether you should've got the interim card in the first place.  I always understood that on a temporary visa, you couldn't get one, and you were only covered (for more limited services)  by the reciprocal agreement. However I've now seen a few British migrants getting an interim card on a temp visa - I do wonder whether it's the right thing or if the people at Medicare don't know the rules?

Oh that makes sense to me.  I think you have hit the nail on the head.  That would explain my visa agent comments.   Also when I went to Centrelink to enquire whether I was eligible for the medicare card or not, I remember someone saying something about UK reciprocal which I didn't understand.   Thanks very much for your thoughts.

[paulhand]

 

8 hours ago, Marisawright said:

It doesn't look like it.

I think what confuses the issue is that you got an interim card.   Once you've got that card the clock starts ticking, no matter what visa you're on.

The question is whether you should've got the interim card in the first place.  I always understood that on a temporary visa, you couldn't get one, and you were only covered (for more limited services)  by the reciprocal agreement. However I've now seen a few British migrants getting an interim card on a temp visa - I do wonder whether it's the right thing or if the people at Medicare don't know the rules?

Look at it this way:

As you say, interim Medicare is not the same as reciprocal but it does make a difference what visa you are on.

Interim (blue) cards are available to applicants who live in Australia and have applied for a permanent residency visa, excluding parent visas, or a permanent protection visa. You need to be on a visa allowing you to work, or prove your parent, spouse or child is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or a New Zealand citizen living in Australia.

You’re eligible for Medicare from the date you applied for permanent residency. This date may be different to the date you were granted your temporary visa 309 or 820. If you applied outside Australia, you’re eligible from the date you arrived in Australia to live.

Remember that the application for the 820/801 is a combined application, including one for permanent residence, and therefore you have "applied for permanent residency" at the point you make a valid application and your bridging visa is granted. 

Interim Medicare has nothing to do with the applicant's passport country.

To close the circle from the original post - it is not a condition of the 820 to hold health insurance (because you are eligible for interim Medicare) but it is a requirement that, once you have Medicare, you take out insurance if you wish to avoid both the Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading and the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). LHC and MLS are different - one is an additional "loading", i.e. cost, on your health insurance should you decide to take it (to encourage people to spread the insurance burden over a lifetime, rather than take out insurance only when they will most likely need it) and the other is an additional "levy", i.e. tax, on high earners to encourage them to take out insurance in the first place.

[rammygirl]

We arrived in our 50s and have never taken health insurance. We are semi retired and don’t earn over the threshold to pay the levy. We self insure and have funds to use if we feel Medicare is not sufficient or available.  So far we are thousands of dollars up. We did the same in the UK.  Medicare where we are in SA is at least as good as the NHS was.  Yes we pay to see the GP, but that is our choice for a better service than bulk billed for ongoing care.  No loyalty here we shop around for best price and service, never be afraid to ask your GP about costs, often they assume your insurance will pay..........

Many people pay the premiums and still have large out of pocket expenses.  Two people I know both had babies last year, one through the private system on insurance, one through Medicare.

The one on insurance (for which they had paid high premiums)- Yes the hospital was nicer, and they had some choices in their care but it still cost around $5,000 on top. Or at least that is what she is admitting to.....

The one on Medicare had a good experience and treatment even though there were some complications and it cost her a few hundred dollars for extra scans.

[Wonderingaloud]

5 hours ago, rammygirl said:

 

Many people pay the premiums and still have large out of pocket expenses.  Two people I know both had babies last year, one through the private system on insurance, one through Medicare.

The one on insurance (for which they had paid high premiums)- Yes the hospital was nicer, and they had some choices in their care but it still cost around $5,000 on top. Or at least that is what she is admitting to.....

The one on Medicare had a good experience and treatment even though there were some complications and it cost her a few hundred dollars for extra scans.

Private maternity is, IMO, the biggest con going. I can’t speak for the general medical side of things, but I’m wary based on what I’ve seen in maternity. Apart from the reduced waiting times for procedures, I can’t see the point in going private. I have a friend who had brain surgery last year, held top private cover and was still $20,000 out pocket. 

Sorry, slightly off topic.