Health Insurance for 457 Visa - Bupa Essential Visitors Cover

[Noel91]

Howzit guys,

 

My girlfriend and I and moving to Perth next year and are currently looking at health insurance options. At the moment we are leaning towards Bupa Essential Visitor Cover. We are both very healthy and rarely go to the doctor, hence we are not looking for any extra cover. Is there anyone with any experience with this scheme (positive or negative)?

Are there any small texts one should look out for when choosing a health insurance plan that are not obvious?

 

Thanks

[Mara]

Something to remember if you are not on PR, with access to Medicare, which is the situation you find yourselves in:

Seeing a doctor in Australia could be around $70 per visit.

Medication, as it is not subsidised for you you, can be very expensive.

I know you say you are healthy now, but you have no idea what tomorrow holds...

Just be aware, of what you discount, because you are healthy now!

[Eyebrow]

We are with BUPA. Essential visitors with silver extras.

 

It doesnt cover pregnancy. Nor does it cover cancer. (If you develop severe cancer that needs chemo, they will repatriate you ) Obviously if you develop cancer you will fail the medical for PR anyway.

 

Visitor cover is different from normal insurance on PR. The visitor cover will act as your Medicare. And generally tends to cover you for the same mount as the medicare re-imbursement. You see GP for $70 then medicare gives an Australia back  $32 (may be wrong on the exact amount, but in that ball park). The rest will be out of pocket. Same with BUPA. They will pay the medicare amount and you pay the rest.

 

Visitor cover is horrible for attending the Emergency dept. If you go to Emergency dept you have to pay $1500 (foreign visitors fee) and BUPA will pick up the rest. Only if you get admitted they pay everything including the $1500. So if you have something minor wrong, like cut your finger and need stitches on a Sunday, MUCH cheaper to go to 24 hour GP center rather than ED! If you have a heart attack and get admitted then you wont have fees.

 

Also check you ambulance cover. Other wise your pay 1000's for the trip to the hospital. Ours has ambulance included.

 

They are very vague about reimbursements for eg blood tests. They wont tell you beforehand how much they will pay. So you go, have your tests, and pay. then take that payment to BUPA and they re-imburse you back. Our Xrays so far has been free and fully reimbursed. (Chest , jaw, foot)

 

They dont pay for any medication. But then no cover does.

 

Specialist fees has been $300-350. We got $180 back.

 

But we have been happy so far. Because we haven't found better. But I haven't looked round again last year or so

[monsta]

Bupa's solution to bill shock is to get a "treatment plan" from a doctor.. then go visit a Bupa outlet and they will tell you what they will pay for. But, waiting till Bupa open in the morning is a bit impractical when you have an emergency.

 

Another thing we have learnt is about an after hours doctor. If you feel really sick during the day, you can go visit a GP. If the doctor decides you need to go to hospital, he/she can triage you, send you off to hospital and send them a report of your condition.

 

But, lets say after hours you have "flu like symptoms" and feel really sick. You probably don't want to go to emergency and be slapped with an excess unnecessarily. So, call out an after hours doctor. But check with Bupa what they will pay towards an after hours doctor and if there is any particular one you should use. $140 (or whatever it is) for a after hours doctor could save you thousands in hospital excesses. But use your common sense, an after hours doctor can take 2 to 3 hours to arrive (they do have other patients).

 

But also, we have had very mixed results with calling up Health Direct  (basically dial a nurse). If you think you might need to go to hospital but aren't sure; Their answer is usually, "you mentioned hospital in that last sentence, therefore I strongly recommend you go their straight away! I can ring an ambulance for you if you would like that. ". The nurses are trained to err on the side of caution. 

 

Oh and lastly, ask the locals which hospital to go to for what. A smaller hospital might not be able to treat a wide range of ailments, but it might be a lot quieter and you will be out of their a lot quicker. For example, most small hospitals can treat a broken arm. 

 

 

[Noel91]

Thanks for all the information everyone, it is really helpful and insightful at the same time

 

It is really tough trying to decide when you have no experience of what it is like there! 

 

@Mara, I agree, that is why we want to covered for worst case scenarios  Just not everyday GP consultations, etc!

 

@Eyebrow , you mentioned that it does not cover cancer? In the document my gf has been given, it states the OP oncology is covered:

 

If you are saying that you will be repariated, does that mean that they expect you to have have care in SA as well? We are not planning on continuing our medical aid here while we are in Aus as it would be too expensive! Or is this something one simply has to do?

 

@Monsta, THanks, that sounds like a really useful service! I will definitely look into it

 

On 12/8/2017 at 6:25 AM, Eyebrow said:

We are with BUPA. Essential visitors with silver extras.

 

It doesnt cover pregnancy. Nor does it cover cancer. (If you develop severe cancer that needs chemo, they will repatriate you ) Obviously if you develop cancer you will fail the medical for PR anyway.

 

Visitor cover is different from normal insurance on PR. The visitor cover will act as your Medicare. And generally tends to cover you for the same mount as the medicare re-imbursement. You see GP for $70 then medicare gives an Australia back  $32 (may be wrong on the exact amount, but in that ball park). The rest will be out of pocket. Same with BUPA. They will pay the medicare amount and you pay the rest.

 

Visitor cover is horrible for attending the Emergency dept. If you go to Emergency dept you have to pay $1500 (foreign visitors fee) and BUPA will pick up the rest. Only if you get admitted they pay everything including the $1500. So if you have something minor wrong, like cut your finger and need stitches on a Sunday, MUCH cheaper to go to 24 hour GP center rather than ED! If you have a heart attack and get admitted then you wont have fees.

 

Also check you ambulance cover. Other wise your pay 1000's for the trip to the hospital. Ours has ambulance included.

 

They are very vague about reimbursements for eg blood tests. They wont tell you beforehand how much they will pay. So you go, have your tests, and pay. then take that payment to BUPA and they re-imburse you back. Our Xrays so far has been free and fully reimbursed. (Chest , jaw, foot)

 

They dont pay for any medication. But then no cover does.

 

Specialist fees has been $300-350. We got $180 back.

 

But we have been happy so far. Because we haven't found better. But I haven't looked round again last year or so

 

[Eyebrow]

Hi

If you have a small lump and you go to hospital and it is cut out and its cancer and maybe you need one or two other things done and its treated, then it is covered.

But what I meant to say was there is a limit to which they will pay - so if treatment is with chemo and radiation and the total cost is over a certain limit (I think $100k, just check if they gave you an upper limit) then they wont pay. Then they pay to get you  back to the country you came from. (Which is presumed you were going back to anyway because a 457 is a temporary visa) But I agree with you, I certainly wasn't going to keep paying medical aid in RSA!

They also pay for only PBS drugs for chemo. So if the drug is not covered by the PBS (which to my surprise quite a few are not - thats why you have people up in arms in the newspaper lobbying for life changing drugs to be put on the PBS) then BUPA will not pay either.

Or if you need a bone marrow transplant for example, that will be well over $100k. Then they repatriate you, rather than pay.

It is quite challenging to be here on a temporary visa. And you take a risk.

And not just with losing your job.

But people who make it through to PR will tell you it is worth it.

 

Note the 100% MBS =100% medicare. But medicare does not pay 100% of the drs fee, if you know what I mean. So it means it will only cover you for what medicare will. Usually still means out of pocket.

 

Our worst bills have been teeth! Small filling $250, Crown -$1500. Braces $6800

 

The screen shot you show is only OP (outpatient) oncology. While if you need inpatient oncology it doesnt specify...

The renal dialysis is only as IP (inpatient) - while dialysis is normally an outpatient procedure. So that suggests to me that if you are an inpatient and your kidneys need help due to some reason you can have dialysis, but if you get discharged, long term dialysis as an outpatient may not happen.

But renal dialysis is one of the criteria to make you fail the medical for PR anyway

They will only pay for MRI as an inpatient (from that screen shot). So if you tear a ligament in your knee and need one as outpatient, they may not pay.

 

Hope that is helpful...

[asayanna]

Hi all, 

 

My family and I are moving to Melbourne in mid-March on a 457 Visa. We're a family of four. Kiddies are 7 and 3. 

I'm currently on CAMAF's unlimited Hospital Plan with all Pathology (in or out of hosp) and all Radiology (in or out of hosp) covered. I'm considering Bupa Gold cover with no extras.

• I note that Bupa, like other OVHCs, has an exclusion for Transplants (Organ/Bone Marrow). Whilst we're pretty healthy this is a serious (risk) gap. Would be great to know how you guys cover this gap.
• Would love to hear thoughts on other providers. 

Thanks!

[Sakuya]

I found HIF which includes Transplants / Bone marrow etc. on the Comprehensive Working Visa option. Not sure how good they are compared to BUPA, but I would rather want that covered in case of an emergency.

[asayanna]

@Sakuya

Thanks for the tip. I've had a quick look at HIF. The biggest difference between HIF Comprehensive and Bupa Gold is that HIF covers 100% of MSA and Bupa covers 150% of MSA. How do you cover the gap between MSA and actual fee? I'm guessing you're either incurring the out of pocket hit or utilizing the HIF AccessGap network. Would be great to have a view of this. 

 

BTW - do kids pay the excess on HIF? Couldn't find any details in their docs. Bupa doesn't. 

 

Thanks :). 

[asayanna]

Okay seems as if I was thrown by a comparison site .  Bupa Gold DOES cover organ/bone marrow transplants. Relief!!! 

So it's two companies with comprehensive cover - Bupa and HIF. 

Here are some features that appeal on Bupa Gold. Might be useful to others. 

- No hospital excess for children 

- In-patient medical services - 100% of the AMA Schedule fee 

- Hospital outpatient or by a doctor or specialist in private practice anywhere in Australia - up to 150% of MBS benefit 

[Sakuya]

@asayanna I haven't read all the fine print yet for Bupa or HIF, only moving between July and August. We would still like to have extras (dental and optical) and adding that to the Bupa Gold will be out of our budget, where HIF is a bit less expensive. As far as I understand, the HIF excess is capped at $1000 per year, so 2 of us will pay the excess when admitted and the 3rd person won't. I haven't read about that access gap cover, but I'm hoping that we would be able to find a doctor that uses the mbs rate or charge something like 125% so that we're only liable for the 25% (might be wishful thinking though).