Australian Personal Finance Blog Finance News Australia – Personal Finance & Lifestyle Blog The healthcare industry in Australia has been stable and seeing growth for last few decades. The healthcare industry offers a lot of facilities. For example, patients can register for personality controlled electronic health record.
The eHealth record system is for protecting privacy. It’s just one example; overall, all the sectors that come under health care such as mental health, primary care and aged care are customer friendly and providing requisite care to patients.
The health insurance is a growing sector in Australia. This is because of the state of the art health care industry and high purchasing capacity of Australians.
There are several health care schemes to choose from and in case you can’t decide which one to give a shot, you can consult with a professional. Some health insurance related tips, which Australians should follow are;
Tax saving
The general Medicare Levy is 1.5%. The surcharge which gets added to it could be an extra tax of either 1% or 1.25% or 1.50%. Thing is you could avoid the Medicare Levy surcharge and save money on taxes. As per norms, the Medicare Levy surcharge applies only if you don’t have eligible hospital cover and if you are a single person and your annual income was more than $88000 in 2013-14 or you are a family person and your family’s annual taxable income in 2013-14 was more than $176000. You could learn more about Medicare Levy surcharge by clicking here.
Fund switching
The law allows you to switch between funds, provided the fund that are about to switch consists of the same level of cover. This benefits existing health fund members as there’s no waiting period in majority of cases. But before switching to a new fund, do your research. There are many health funds in Australia and they offer attractive covers and premiums.
Review the cover
People read the cover carefully when signing a particular health insurance package. But over the time their health care needs change. Parallelly, health funds change premiums and benefits of their policies. Then after few years down the line they realize the policy that they once signed for is no longer compatible with their health needs. Thus, it’s important to stay posted and for that you need to keep reviewing your policy every year.
The tips above are simple yet effective. By following the tips, you could stay worry free, avail the best insurance package and save sizable amount of money.
