how much!!!!!!!!!

[Guest ali@51]

Hi All

I'm after some advice (again). Got a bit of a shock today. I rang the opticians to make an apointment for megan as she needs her contact lense glasses combo re-jigged. Whilst I was on I asked how much it was liable to cost. $64.15 for the eye test and we can apparently re-claim all bar $10 of that back from medi care. Then came the shock . New glasses aprox $200. bi focal transition lenses $200 1x gas permiable lense $205 to $390 I'll say it again:arghh:.

Megan dosn't have a lense in her left eye so this isn't somthing we can do without!!!! I was to gobsmacked to ask at the time but dose anyone know if we can claim any of this back or if thire is any sort of payment ceiling? Or any way of reducing this cost! I supose this :jimlad: is another option but I don't think Meg will be to chuffed with that one;)

ali

[Guest massive]

Ali,

Carn,t help with any of your questions but:jimlad: this made me laugh so much I nearly wet myself

See you soon

Debbie

[bill]

Hi All

I'm after some advice (again). Got a bit of a shock today. I rang the opticians to make an apointment for megan as she needs her contact lense glasses combo re-jigged. Whilst I was on I asked how much it was liable to cost. $64.15 for the eye test and we can apparently re-claim all bar $10 of that back from medi care. Then came the shock . New glasses aprox $200. bi focal transition lenses $200 1x gas permiable lense $205 to $390 I'll say it again:arghh:.

Megan dosn't have a lense in her left eye so this isn't somthing we can do without!!!! I was to gobsmacked to ask at the time but dose anyone know if we can claim any of this back or if thire is any sort of payment ceiling? Or any way of reducing this cost! I supose this :jimlad: is another option but I don't think Meg will be to chuffed with that one;)

ali

Private medical insurance can help to defray a lot of optician costs, plus dental, chiropractic etc. Full medical insurance is expensive and in my opinion, does nothing for you above what Medicare does, except allow you to stay in a private room and choose your own doctor when in hospital. However, "extras" cover is very reasonable. From memory, I paid about $60 a month (probably more like $70 now) for Medibank Private Blue Ribbon Extras cover for a family of four. We could all have a free pair of glasses every year, 2 free dental checkup and clean, 66% refund on chiropractor, about 50% refund on dental work, etc. Those things alone more than saved the cost of premiums. There is sometimes a waiting period after joining before you can claim. Check out www.medibank.com.au for an online quote. I just tried it for a family, dropped hospital cover completely (Medicare gives you this, and why should you pay twice?), selected comprehensive extras cover, and came out with a figure of $68.80 a month for the extras cover. For your Megan's needs, you would be best calling Medibank to ask what sort of refund they offer on those items, so you know before signing up if it is for you. Hope this helps.

[Guest morgie@51]

Ali's OH here. Thanks for the reply. We have thought about private medical insurance and will be getting it eventually but it will only give us a max of $250 for Megan. Whilst every little helps in Megan's case the costs could get quite scary.

 

She only wears one contact lens because her own lens was removed at 7 weeks old. Currently she uses soft lenses and gets through about 24 a year after allowing for not being able to tolerate them for more than a month, changes due to growth spurts, abrasions and the odd lost lens. We are hoping that gas permeable would mean she could wear them for longer but would still expect to have to buy 12 a year. This means that the worst case scenario is $4,680 a year for the lenses alone.

 

In the UK because they were a clinical need the good old, much maligned NHS provided the lenses free of charge. We were hoping that someone may have had some experience of having to obtain care/medication that is 'out of the nomal run of things' and may no of some sort of help/schem that is available to reduce the costs somewhat.

 

Hopefully when we go to Megan's appointment they may have some good news and it won't be as expensive as it could be.

[Guest caoimhe]

I supose this :jimlad: is another option but I don't think Meg will be to chuffed with that one;)

ali

 

Think if you go for :jimlad: you could be posting more "Bad Mother" threads

[Guest Nick11]

If its any consolation - my daughter Megan needs braces and a dental implant - estimated cost -$10,500!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ask me again why we had kids!!!!

[Guest EHumphreys]

Hi, my name's Einir, I'm living in Wales at the moment but are moving back to Adelaide with my family in November. A suggestion to your query about obticians for your daughter, when I lived in Adelaide 5 years ago I worked for a Behavioural Optometrist called Jim Kenefick, he specialises in childrens vision and vision related learning difficulties. They (used to anyway) carry a big range of childrens frames and he would be great for you to see with Megan for some advice on contact lenses and glasses etc. He is based in Prospect, just north of the City, and from memory the telephone number is 8344 3338. Tell him I say hi!!

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

I am not sure why you have to pay for an eyetest, they should be bulk billed to medicare. Maybe try a different optition.

We have blue ribbon extras, and didnt know about 1 pair free glasses!! We are off ofr eye tests monday!

As for contacts, I think maybe your daughters are different I dont know too much about different types of lenses, but I do know we were paying $130 odd for 3 months supply of lenses from optitons. We now use www.nogap.com.au they supply 3 months for $89 then we will get back $50 from medibank (diff from medicare).

They are lense dispensers they ask for the fax or scan of your prescription before they send them to you, so I dont see why they could not do them.

Hope this helps in some way

sarah

[Guest morgie@51]

Thanks for the replies. We have been looking at lens costs over the internet so will try the suggested other suppliers if we are able.

 

Unfortunately changing opticians isn't an option for us as far as I am aware at the moment. The problem is that Megan is referred to a specific Optician by the speicialists at Flinders. In the UK we went to the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital where they had a specialist contact lens department working under the consultnt who looked after Megan. A general optician would not have a clue about Meg's condition as they are extremely unlikely to have ever seen it before. To put it into context wherever we went in the UK on holiday we usually ended up in the local hospital with Meg having an abrasion on her eye. Not once did we meet a doctor who had heard of her condition let alone dealt with it.

 

Before anyone accuses us of not doing our research we knew we may not get the lenses on Medicare before we came. When we priced them in the UK we were told they would cost about £30 a lens hence were expecting to pay no more than $100, not up to $390. Doesn't help that we have to have spares and hence would buy them in lots of 6 at least. Now I've added it up for the next 10 years I reckon glasses and lenses could end up costing $30k to $40k depending on how Meg builds up a resistance to wearing them (if she does).

 

Nick11 - over $10k for braces - ouch! must be something to do with Megans - we've always said ours was high maintenance .