health care cost

[jon70]

I may have a sponsor through a job offer, but we still need a few questions ansewed ie, what does health care cost in general? I am 39 my wife is 34 and our children are 2,6 & 8. Any info please

[Rachiegarlo]

Our private health cover for a family of 5 for hospital cover and general extras which covers things like dental, physio etc is about $120 a fortnight. You can google these companies, they usually have info on what type of cover you need and how much.

Medibank Private
Mutual Community
MBF

There are a few more that others will probably list.

[jon70]

Sorry if I am going to sound a bit thick but does this mean I will have to pay about 120 per fortnight if we need health service assistance or not? ie what happens if we don't need a doctor,medicines or dentist etc etc for 6 months?

[Rachiegarlo]

Yes if you want private health cover, because the premium is worked out annually, but you can choose to pay it fortnightly.

You don't have to have private hosp cover but you should at least get extras to cover dental as this is not subsidised yet by the government. You can survive(LOL) very well with the public healthcare system, Medicare which allows you access due to the reciprocal agreement. Most docs charge a fee up front and then you claim a proportion back from the gov, or you can attend one of the large bulk billing doctor's centres who bill the gov direct for seeing you. Most docs will bulkbill for children anyway.

You can see any doc you wish, sometimes it is hard getting an appointment in busy times, but you can always try another clinic. You can pick your own dentists and there is a school dental service for children which costs $30 odd for all treatment for the year. Medicines are not free even for children. They are subsidised though so if you are entitled to medicare you buy them at the subsidised price. All treatment in a public hospital is free if entitled to medicare.