Medical care & ????

[Noddy]

Hi,

Please can any1 tell us what kind of medical care one could expect when we get 2 Oz? I know that we hav to register for medicare, but what kind of services does this cover?

Generally, we're a healthy family, but u neva know & with 2 kids (11 & 14), u hav 2 b prepared.

Can we also hav some advice on matresses - do we bring them with or not? I've read a few articles & the info is quite conflicting. On the 1 hand some say bring & then I'm putting them in the container, then hubby reads something else & we're taking them out again!

I've also read quite a bit about SA products that are available in Oz - should i bring my 5 Roses teabags? Am I allowed 2 bring them? In my baggage or in the container?

This is only the beginning of all the questions - so please be patient with us.

Pam & Matt

[Dreamcatcher]

Hi Pam,

I will try and answer some of your questions.

Medical care: Australia is trying to get everyone to have their own private health insurance, and you get a tax benefit if you belong to a private scheme. If you come over on a permanent resident visa, you will qualify for medicare. With that you can see exactly the same doctors as you would if you had private insurance. The quality of medical care you ask? We have only had the best untill now, and we don't even live in the "big cities".

Matresses: If your matresses are still good, you need to decide if you want to bring them. Double bed is fine, the linen here is the same for that, but if you have a queen or king size bed, you need to bring enough linen with you to last the lifetime of the matress. Aussie king and queen matresses are 15cm (I think Mara said?) longer than SA ones. So if you decide to buy new here, don't bring too much linen, especially not fitted sheets Another thing about matresses is that they have to be thoroughly cleaned, for house dust mites for instance. You have to prove that this has been professionally done, as far as I know. They also take up a lot of space in the container that you could fill with more important stuff. A new queen size matress here will cost you around $450 (and up). This would be for a mid-range matress.

SA products: You get 5 Roses here at some of the SA shops, otherwise you can order it from SATOOZ. You cannot bring it with you in your baggage or in your container.

Hope that helps,

Greetings,

Dreamy

PS: Try and find that post of Mara's about the matresses, very interesting and to the point info in it.

[Bosluis]

I went to the hospital for a kidney stone on the medicare card, it didnt cost me a cent, stayed overnight and had exrays, very good treatment, cannot complain, also if your kids need too see a docter it would cost you nothing, my son went for a exray on his foot, al payed for by the medicare.

[Noddy]

Hi Dreamy

Thanx so much for the info: especially about the mattresses having to be cleaned - 1st time I've heard that. If that's the case, then it might be best to buy there!

I found Mara's post and yes it was very informative.

I had to look around for it and while doing so came across some scary posts on dental care.

Is it really that bad??? I read it under General (Dental care in Oz) pg 12 posted by Serileen.

thanx again for your help!

Pam

Hi Pam,

I will try and answer some of your questions.

Medical care: Australia is trying to get everyone to have their own private health insurance, and you get a tax benefit if you belong to a private scheme. If you come over on a permanent resident visa, you will qualify for medicare. With that you can see exactly the same doctors as you would if you had private insurance. The quality of medical care you ask? We have only had the best untill now, and we don't even live in the "big cities".

Matresses: If your matresses are still good, you need to decide if you want to bring them. Double bed is fine, the linen here is the same for that, but if you have a queen or king size bed, you need to bring enough linen with you to last the lifetime of the matress. Aussie king and queen matresses are 15cm (I think Mara said?) longer than SA ones. So if you decide to buy new here, don't bring too much linen, especially not fitted sheets Another thing about matresses is that they have to be thoroughly cleaned, for house dust mites for instance. You have to prove that this has been professionally done, as far as I know. They also take up a lot of space in the container that you could fill with more important stuff. A new queen size matress here will cost you around $450 (and up). This would be for a mid-range matress.

SA products: You get 5 Roses here at some of the SA shops, otherwise you can order it from SATOOZ. You cannot bring it with you in your baggage or in your container.

Hope that helps,

Greetings,

Dreamy

PS: Try and find that post of Mara's about the matresses, very interesting and to the point info in it.

Hi Bosluis

Thanx for the info on Medicare. Have any of you ever had to have any Dental work done?

Also where in Oz are you and does this make any difference to the medicare treatment one receives?

Pam

[Dreamcatcher]

Hi Pam,

Kids in primary school get dental care at school. My kids are there every week! They are steadily removing the old silver fillings and replacing them with white ones, even in the baby teeth. I had to take my daughter to the orthodontist, and we got great care there too. I went to the dentist last week, no problems eitheer. My son is going next week for a checkup.

I think it is just like in SA, you get good and bad dentists. There are just too few dentists around for the amount of people in the country. So make sure you always book your six month checkups. We have it set up so that the dentist calls us and reminds us of the six month visits. We then make an appointment in advance. It was the same in SA.

Greetings,

Dreamy

[Guest Bronwyn]

Hi guys - I am also quite worried about the medical/dental issue. Every time I log on I see Sherileen's warning to "Get your teeth sorted out before you come". That woman has been the cause of all 4 of us being dragged to the dentists' in the past 2 weeks!!

The dentist we all went to gave us dire information that he has various patients that fly back to S. Africa for their major dental work, as crowns, etc cost about 10% here of what they will do there, obviously doing the calculation in Rands....

My question is this - we are going to be in Australia on a temporary visa until we qualify for PR. Is it the case that our kids will not qualify for the free dental at the schools?

Also, MBF, Medihealth, or AHI? Any thoughts?

Thanks, Bronwyn

Edited November 12, 2006 by Bronwyn

[Madelein]

Well, I have to agree with Serileen. Dental costs can be very expensive in Oz and it is best to get it sorted before leaving SA. It is seen a "out of the pocket" expense . I haven't come accross a Health Care Fund that covers Dental expenses, nor does Medicare cover for it. I had to see a dentist and it cost me about $200 just to get a filling.

Does anyone know a Health Care Fund who covers dental costs in Oz?

From the Medical side: very good service, whether you have private healthcare or Medicare. We only have Medicare and use GP's that Bulkbill - no "out of the pocket" or hidden expenses.

Bronwyn: you have to apply for private healthcare once you arrive. Temporary visa holders can make use of Medibank Private or Iman Health Care. Dental works are not covered. There is no free dental or medical consultations for the kiddies, unfortunately. They do have school nurses at schools if a child should need immediate attention and the parents would be informed.

Regards

Madelein

Edited November 12, 2006 by Madelein

[Dreamcatcher]

Hi there,

Madelein, I have to differ from you there, maybe we just live in a good town!

My kids get full dental care at school, even though we are on a 457. They only referred us to an external practitioner for orthodontic services. IMAN (or AHI as they are now called) do cover dental. They have a $2000 per year limit on their "extras cover" which includes dental. Info here. Dental costs are very expensive. You generally have to pay for everything upfront, and then claim it back.

You could apply for medical cover before you get here, have a look at the IMAN website. There are a few others that you can also compare: HBF, HIF, Medibank or Australian Unity (don't even go there, they are hopeless)

Greetings,

Dreamy

[serileen]

Hi All

Me again, yep I still maintain get your teeth sorted out before you come over....Remember the tooth that had me going in Jan....when I saw the dentist in June there was nothing wrong , well it started again over the last couple of days needless to say the earliest appointment is next year July and some don't take new patience cause they cannot cope.

Please put some Dentist into your containers, we really need them here in Mackay

[Madelein]

Hallo Dreamy

I had a look on Iman's site and wow! They have changed! We were with Iman when we came to Oz (we didn't have those options), unfortunately only for 457 visa holders and we had to leave them once we had our PR. At the moment, we don't have private health care for the following reasons: it's only the 2 of us and we are quite healthy and we don't use regular prescription drugs. Therefore, it is better for us to stick only with Medicare for the moment.

In the ACT, free Dental services for the kiddies were taken away from last year, so I presumed that this was in all states. They rely on giving health education in schools and the Nurse does the checking & let the parents know if there is problems.

I know that Western Australia is blooming financially, therefore you will get excellent service. NSW is cutting down on some costs on their Health System, therefore it is really slow (long waiting lists for surgery, the mental healt issue, etc). Better to have your Private Health Care . ACT relies on the Federal Government and NSW (I don't know when they will start the same thing that is happening in NSW). Victoria, SA and NT are relatively OK for the moment.

But yes, we do need more Doctors, Dentists and Nurses - especially in the Rural areas!

Dreamy, you do live in a good town!

Regards

Madelein

[Bob]

Pam,

one little niche that I can offer on this forum is the background to many areas of Australian lifestyle, such as in health care, etc.

Up until the mid 1970s, Australia had a private health scheme where everyone was expected to pay a bit towards their own health care. This resulted from the attitude, after WW2, that all Aussies should be entitled to some sort of basic health care. It was done thro' private health funds, or companies, with a big subsidisation from the Australian gov't to make it affordable to all Aussies.

In 1975, the Whitlam Labour gov't brought in Australia's first "free" health care scheme for all Aussies and was remarkably like the present system which is operating in Australia today. It was called "Medibank" and public hospitals were free and doctors visits subsidised heavily.

The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the Liberal gov't of the day increasingly withdraw the subsidises until it bacame all private once more.

In Feb 1984, the Hawke Labor gov't re-introduced public health care by bringing in "Medicare" which we have today.

Medicare, which is for all Australians and permanent residents, is a free basic health care service throughout Australia.

It provides up to 85% subsidy of a doctor's visit and gives free treatment in public hospitals.

Medicare is a "no frills" health care service.

If you want a better service than "no frills", then it will pay you to insure yourself privately thro' a private health fund, such as M.B.F., Medibank Private or Australian Unity.

Health fund premiums are subsidised 30% by the Australian gov't to try to keep them "affordable" to the average Aussie.

If you're young and healthy then Medicare is probably all you will need, and you pay a 1.5% "Medicare Levy", on top of your income tax, out of your pay or salary.

However, Medicare does NOT cover dental treatment, optical treatment or ambulance travel, so if you have teeth or eyes and like travelling in the back of an ambulance each day, I would suggest you obtain the cover of private health which is "Extras" cover, at the least. This will make dental work or prescription lenses in your specs affordable.

The premiums are also subsidised by the Aust gov't by 30%.

Check out :

www.medicare.com.au

www.mbf.com.au

www.medibankprivate.com.au

[Noddy]

Thanx for all the info on medical in OZ!

Special thanx to Bob - I think i can now make an informed decision on the route to take in this one area at least!

One last question on this subject before i put it to rest: do you have to be working to take private medical?

The reason i ask is cos we're coming over on PR 136 visas (hubby's an electrician) and we're not sure how many exams (u may have seen my other post on this subject ) he may have to write, before he can get a job.

Enjoy ur day all! our info and assistance is invaluable!

Pam

[Bob]

You don't have to be working to obtain private health cover.

Health care is for ALL Australians.

As I've said before, Australia was settled mainly by working class people from the British Isles (miners, farmers, convicts, etc.) and this lent itself towards strong trade unionism, a living wage for all workers, etc. and Australians all seeing themselves as no better and no worse than anybody else in the community.

Every Australian saw himself as part of the community and the public view was that Australians should be entitled to decent health care, education, etc.

Every Australian, no matter how old or how disabled they are, can get private health cover at the same cost as a fit young person.

The whole community pays the same premium and there is obviously cross subsidy of the healthy to the infirm, but Australians accept that as part of being in the Australian community.

Don't knock it.

Just accept that that outlook is part of the price you pay for living among Australians. . . . . YOU getting the same as everyone else, no matter what your circumstances are.

[anchen]

Hi All

Could you please tell me in what way the treatments for psychiatric conditions are covered is OZ?

I was diagnosed with a mild form of bipolar after my daughter’s birth and I am currently on chronic medication. It is a PMB condition in SA so these medicines are fully covered as is the twice a year visits to the Psychiatrist.

Will I have any difficulty getting cover or is there any stigmas regarding these conditions? (Work etc)

Also do you think I will have any problems passing the medicals?

I am on a very low dosage and I am sure that now that my daughter is older I could suddenly be “cured” but then again the whole moving to a new country and going of my meds at the same time just doesn’t sound too “lekker”.

[Bob]

Anchen,

I don't know about passing medicals, but health insurance is available for ALL Australians.

There is a waiting period for pre-existing conditions that you'd have to let the health insurance people know about in joining.

The waiting period initially is for two months generally, except for emergency cases when you are covered immediately you join, but with "pre-existing' conditions ( in this case, your bi-polar condition) you'd have to wait twelve months to get covered for any re-imbursements to do with that particular condition.

This is to help stop people claiming for a health problem straight away, then dropping out from being insured once all their ailments have been paid for. It's not fair to the long term insurers who pay regularly and have to subsidise the 'fly - by - night ers".

After that, you are like everybody else having health insurance in Australia . . . . completely covered!

[Riekie]

Both Australian Unity & HBA has Dental Cover under their "extras" option. (Won't recommend Australian Unity from own experience......)