Arranging health insurance as a couple can be a challenging proposition

Arranging health insurance as a couple can be a challenging proposition as there are two sets of needs being taken into consideration when deciding how extensive your coverage should be. Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking about taking health insurance as a couple.




There is less hassle involved in comparison to taking out two separate singles policies. You’ve only got the one policy to manage with one set of premiums and if a claim needs to be made, you only need to do this on the one policy. Because these type of policies are aimed directly at couples, you can make savings in comparison to both having policies that lean more towards individuals.

Lifetime Health Cover

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) allows you to lock in base rate premiums if you take out private hospital cover before July 1st following your 31st birthday (otherwise known as your base date). If you take out private hospital cover after this, loading fees of 2 per cent are added onto your premiums. As a couple, the situation can be complicated if both partners have different LHC loadings:

If only one partner has had continuous hospital cover since their base date (and the other has LHC loading)

Your combined premiums will work out as an average between the base rate premium and the LHC loading. For example, if one of you has no LHC loading but one of you has a LHC loading of 4 per cent, your premiums as a couple will average out at 2 per cent.

If both partners have LHC loadings

If you’ve both got LHC loadings, your premiums are the average of the two loadings. For example, if you have a loading of 4 per cent while your partner has a loading of 6 per cent, your combined loading will be 5 per cent.

If you’ve both taken out private hospital cover before your base date, you can often still switch to couples insurance without compromising your base rate premiums.
The Medical Levy Surcharge & The Rebate

Most Australian taxpayers pay a 1.5 per cent Medicare levy but if you’re a higher earner who hasn’t arranged hospital cover with a registered health fund , you’re also subject to an additional Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). The income threshold for the 2010/11 financial year was $154,000 for couples or families and will change to $160,000 for the 2011/12 financial year. The surcharge was previously set at 1 per cent but in line with plans to means-test both the MLS and the health insurance rebate from July 2011, both will operate on a sliding scale.

For couples/ families who have a joint income of below $150,000, the 30 per cent rebate should be unaffected (35 per cent for those aged 65-69 and 40 per cent if you’re over 70) and you won’t pay an MLS charge.
For couples/families who earn between $150,001 and $180,000, the rebate decreases to 20 per cent (25 per cent for those aged between 65 and 69 and 30 per cent for those over 70) and the MLS charge is 1 per cent.
For couples/families who earn between $180,001 and $240,000, the rebate decreases to 10 per cent (15 per cent for those aged between 65 and 69 and 20 per cent for those over 70) and the MLS charge is 1.25 per cent.
For couples/families who earn over $240,000, no rebate will be on offer and the MLS charge is 1.5 per cent.

If the proposed changes to the MLS make you think twice about taking out hospital cover or keeping your existing cover, think about the potential downsides if you do drop your hospital cover. Private health insurance has several key benefits that you may well miss if you ditch it. It’s much more extensive than Medicare benefits alone, has shorter waiting times attached and doesn’t require you to wait around for a bed to become available in a public hospital.
If You’re Planning a Family

Bear in mind that most health funds impose a 12-month waiting period before you can access the benefits so it’s no good waiting until you’re pregnant before you look for appropriate coverage. If you start your search some time before you think you’ll need the cover, there’s a good chance that you’ll have already served out your waiting period and will be able to access the full benefits.

It may be better to switch to family cover after a first pregnancy is confirmed so that the baby is covered after the birth. For some health funds, you may need to have been paying premiums for family cover for several months prior to the birth to ensure that this will definitely be the case but check with your health fund to confirm their position.

If you’re planning to start a family in the not-so-distant future, there may be other things to take into consideration when choosing your health insurance policy.

If you’re a cohabiting couple, it can be cheaper to arrange couples insurance that features both of you on the same policy. For hospital cover, Lifetime Health Cover loadings can complicate how much you’ll pay if you’ve waited beyond your base date to take it out. If you’ve yet to take out hospital cover at all, the Medical Levy Surcharge is intended as a big incentive for couples in the higher earning brackets as it enables you to avoid the additional tax.

A Guide to Choosing Child Health Insurance

Even though all citizens of Canada are provided with access to medical care through the Canadian government’s federal and/or provincial programs, these programs do not provide coverage for every health condition or situation.


The provincial healthcare plans provide some degree of health insurance for nearly all children living in Canada. Most large cities in Canada have hospitals that are dedicated to treating children. Although children’s parents or guardians are not responsible for paying fees for their children to receive treatment at such hospitals, health coverage varies widely from province to province. Vision and dental coverage across the provincial plans range from comprehensive coverage to no coverage at all. Prescription drug costs are usually covered up to a specified percentage of the cost, depending on the province.

Children, seniors, and social assistance recipients are three groups of people that are provided with coverage for health services that the public healthcare system does not typically provide coverage for. These additional health benefits include vision, dental, prescription drugs, medical equipment, and services provided by specialists. The type and amount of coverage for these additional health benefits varies in accordance with the province/territory of residence.

Supplemental Child Health Insurance

It is crucial that you determine what your federal/provincial plan covers, what it does not, and what types of coverage might be worth obtaining through supplemental child health insurance. If your child does not qualify for the coverage of hearing aids, prescription lenses, prescription drugs, dental care, medical equipment, or various other health care services under the governments’ programs, supplemental child health insurance is worth considering as many of these services can result in unexpected, significantly high expenses. Without supplemental coverage to offset such costs, you and your family may eventually experience financial concerns. While obtaining supplemental child health insurance may appear complicated and time-consuming, it is worth the effort. You can purchase extra coverage for additional benefits through individual health insurance plans, or company group health insurance programs, which are often offered by employers.

A Guide to Choosing Child Health Insurance

When shopping for supplemental child health insurance, asking the potential insurance provider the right questions ensures that you will get the coverage your children need, at a cost that meets your budget.

Below are some sample questions you can ask the insurance provider:

What is the cost of coverage for one child and/or to cover additional children? What type of coverage is provided by the plan for children with special needs? Does the plan cover preexisting conditions? What does the plan consider to be an existing condition? Is there a waiting period before the plan becomes active? What is covered under the plan? Does the plan provide coverage outside of Canada? Do I need to notify my provider if the child leaves Canada? What are the plan’s exclusions? What coverage does the plan offer over and above the government plan? How does my workplace’s health insurance coverage compare to the coverage of supplemental insurance? Does the plan cover special procedures or visits to specialists? What do I have to do if I want to schedule an appointment with a specialist? Does the plan cover glasses/contacts, and if so, up to what amount? Does the plan cover dental care, and if so, what services are covered? How do I file a claim and how do I receive reimbursement for claims under the plan? What type of prescription drug coverage is provided by the plan? Are there particular instances or exceptions whereby a prescription drug would not be covered? What will be the monthly cost of the plan, what methods of payment are accepted? What happens if I miss a payment? Are there co-insurance or co-payments that I should be aware of? Is there a deductible that applies to the plan? How much is the deductible and how does it affect my coverage? How will I know when I have met the deductible?

What’s Better – Individual or Group Health Plans?

Looking for a excellent insurance plot for insuring one’s health can be tedious and involves a lot of options to consider. Especially, when you aren’t quite excellent at insurance and didn’t get any plans on your own in the past.
Insurance agents and brokers can use this confusion to their advantage and you can end up paying way more for insurance than you really should. And one of the most frequently questioned questions concerning insurance plans is about choosing between group and party health insurance. Fact is that there’s no certain answer to this question and it depends on the actual needs of a self asking it. We will try to outline the main advantages and disadvantages of each insurance plot type and deciding what to choose will rest on you. Remember that the situation is different in each case and what’s beneficial for your neighbor or colleague can be quite uncomfortable for you personally. Party plans Party plans are quite common and speak for a traditional form of health insurance. Party or independent plans usually have a release policyholder and are tailored to his or her exact requirements.

In most cases the customer can change coverage amounts and edit the list of air force that should be covered by the policy. Due to this, party plans have a very high degree of flexibility. The main downside here is the price. Party plans usually cost more than group plans and are useful only if you have any specific health insurance needs. It’s much simpler to find an party plot that will cover pre-existing situation or specific healthcare air force but you will have to pay for that. Group plans Group plans have become very well loved among many workers and students who are often existing with such an option by their employers or education facilities. Under a group plot, the group of workers shares the same set of air force that are covered and the employer usually pays a part of the premium, which makes group plans a very advantageous option in terms of price. On the other hand, group plans have a limited set of air force that get covered. Most pre-existing situation are denied with coverage and if you need any specific healthcare air force you are very likely to pay out of own pocket for them.

Close Both party and group plans have their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of price you will certainly gain more by choosing a group health insurance plot as compared to party offers. Even if, if you have specific health situation and need adequate coverage, group health insurance may be not enough to cover you properly, and it would be surpass to go with party insurance. Analyze your needs, reckon how often you visit a doctor and make your choice basing on these facts. If you are healthy and don’t go to a doctor quite often, an employer-sponsored group plot might work very well for you. But if you visit a doctor on a regular basis and need special medications and air force that should be covered, you might want to choose an party plot that will let you tailor the coverage according to your private needs.

BEST HEALTH INSURANCE PLANNER

Juggling the average cost of health insurance and income expenses is a struggle many contend with. There was a rise of 6.9% crosswise the people in 2008 for total health expenditures. Some studies really showed that most households spent, on average, an extraordinary 17% of their income on health check insurance.



It’s hard to imagine being able to pay for private health insurance when you take into consideration that 17% is spent on health coverage existing through employer benefits. This might not seem like much, but take into consideration the fact that employer benefits premiums are subsidized to a fantastic boundary by the employer. What, then, is the actual average cost of health insurance?

At first glance, it seems like it would be a near financial hopelessness to get health insurance that isn’t through an employer. People will often choose to go with a state or federal health plot that sometimes doesn’t even cover the basics or will choose to not carry any insurance as all. Consider this: an employer based health plot that you pay into will run you $10,000 – $11,000 per year and you will pay double this through private health insurance companies. There are ways to get this under control, even if.

Choose a health plot that has a very large arrangement of unfilled hospitals and doctors. You’ll find that a plot that limits who you can see for care will cost less and while this might exasperate you if you need to switch doctors, you’ll probably at least be able to afford insurance. In addition to this, health plans will nearly everlastingly cover generic brand drugs so be sure to have your doctor prescribe these instead of the brand names or question your pharmacist to substitute them in. It’s surpass to have something instead of nothing and you can get decent coverage for a decent price.