I have been thinking about getting health insurance for our family but hubby is not so sure, he would rather put the money away into an account, but i am sure we would probably spend it

anyway, a couple of questions (and these are directed at the aussies - cos well I am one )

have you had any trouble getting medical insurance when you mention HD?

if you have it, have you found it beneficial not just for normal family things but also for the person with HD?

and if you dont have it, have you found the public system to be helpful to the pHD in your family and have services been easily attainable?

thanks and i hope everyone is enjoying their mothers day

erica

Hi Twiggy,

We dont have health insurance my hubby says what yours does,put the money aside but that never happens.

I have thought about getting health insurance but its so expensive.I had my first daughter under a private obestetrician which cost alot of money,Im now having my second child under the same dr & medicare will now cover 75% of it.I dont see the point in it now.

Maybe ring a few insurance companies & see what they say.
Sorry I cant help you on that one.

Hope you had a great mothers day.

Julie

well twiggy you know my answer to a few of those questions!!...

i have been denied by two more companies based on hd...the guy from IFSA has been helpful though and has told me that they do surveys every six months and people with hd are getting life insurance

...so i dont know im a little confused about it all...but he is following up the companies i went through and is going to discuss it with them...as well as the fact that one of the insurance companies requested a blood test... which is against there policies...at the end of the day though i am starting to feel like i dont want to know about them

I feel the process of getting insurance and the process to claiming insurance when i need it is ridiculas...so im considering going down the path of investing elsewhere...then i have access to my money when i need it...not when i have jumped through all there hoops

as for services being easily accessable through health public sector...i would say no

our families experience has been that services are minimal...and the services provided are not for hd clients...therefor they have not always been as helpful as what they could be

mum went into a nursing home way before her time because there was not enough community support and that was the only option...we have managed and done the best we can in a difficult situation but it certainly hasnt been easy...or the best possible outcome

i guess you would need to put the money somewhere where it cant be touched if thats possible...i was thinking maybe i need to go and see a financial advisor...i dont know...im about where you are with all this!!!

hope you had a great mothers day with the kids!!

Love Michelle

well twiggy you know my answer to a few of those questions!!...

i have been denied by two more companies based on hd...the guy from IFSA has been helpful though and has told me that they do surveys every six months and people with hd are getting life insurance

...so i dont know im a little confused about it all...but he is following up the companies i went through and is going to discuss it with them...as well as the fact that one of the insurance companies requested a blood test... which is against there policies...at the end of the day though i am starting to feel like i dont want to know about them

I feel the process of getting insurance and the process to claiming insurance when i need it is ridiculas...so im considering going down the path of investing elsewhere...then i have access to my money when i need it...not when i have jumped through all there hoops

as for services being easily accessable through health public sector...i would say no

our families experience has been that services are minimal...and the services provided are not for hd clients...therefor they have not always been as helpful as what they could be

mum went into a nursing home way before her time because there was not enough community support and that was the only option...we have managed and done the best we can in a difficult situation but it certainly hasnt been easy...or the best possible outcome

i guess you would need to put the money somewhere where it cant be touched if thats possible...i was thinking maybe i need to go and see a financial advisor...i dont know...im about where you are with all this!!!

hope you had a great mothers day with the kids!!

Love Michelle

hey a double post

we have never needed it before and even without HD i was thinking about getting it in case the kids needed something doing, maybe just extras cover, and if we need hospital just rely on the system

so the dude reckons people with HD are getting life insurance?? i wish he could point us all in the right direction there

thanks julie - i had all 3 kids in the public system and couldnt complain about anything (except maybe the food ) its all the other stuff that hubby may need and that the kids and i might need to utilise

as for the services being easily available under the public system, I guess I knew the answer to that one before I even asked it

well hubby has another appt with the social worker in a couple of weeks so i might go this time and ask some questions

happy whats left of mothers day

erica

and i guess having private health really wouldnt impact on availability of services for those with HD??

When my husband seen the social worker at Westmead hospital she gave him a life insurance company who will do life insurance for people with hd.
Their number is (02)89122103
All it says about the name is Associated Planners.

Worth a phone call.

thanks julie, michelle might be interested to know that too

cool...thanks i will give them a call (im at work now...shhhh...lol) but i will try them when i get a chance

Thanks!

norty girl

let me know how you get on

Hi Twiggy,

I'm probably not going to be much help to you I'm afraid. We had health insurance way back before hubby had HD. When I see the Drs I don't have to pay anything, the Neuro appts we don't even sign for so I imagine Medicare takes care of that. Respite in hospital for hubby isn't paid for either so I imagine Medicare must pay that too.

Health insurance has always confused me, sometimes it costs you more to have it when you go to hospital than if you don't. I do like to have my own Dr though and I had a private room in a public hospital to have my babies.

We are with NIB, I can't see why it matters whether you have HD or not seeing as Medicare seems to pay for everything anyway.

If you are thinking of putting money away instead, maybe you can arrange with your bank to take monthly payments out of your account and put it into an account where you can't touch it for a certain amount of time, like an investment acct. That way the money automatically comes out and you won't have access to it for a few months at a time.

Good luck.

hmmm...i was thinking more about this today twiggy (while i was working very hard of course...smile) and i agree with debbie health insurance is confusing...im not sure if it would provide that much assistance specifically concerning hd...but it may for your kids so you dont have to wait four hours if they break there arm!!

i guess its a way for people with money to cover themselves if they get sick and have alot of medical expenses, so they dont have to go on waiting lists for operations, they can be gauranteed there own docter, etc

and i guess depending on how much you earn would depend on how much benifit it would be...i know if our family had alot of money we would have to pay nursing home fees, docters bills, specialists etc for mum...but cause we are just poor old aussies...smile...it is covered through medicare and they just take most of mums pension

soooo....i guess the idea is...dont earn too much or you will have to pay full price for everything (so then a private fund might be worth it)....but dont earn too little or you will have minimal access to services regarding care etc

different states are different too in what services provide and i have heard that victoria is actually really good!

so debbie maybe we can all come live with you!!!

i didnt get a chance to contact the insurance company today (up above)but i did hear back from one of the companies that denied me (im thinking the dude IFSA rang them) and they are willing to provide me with life insurance for if i die (so maybe it should be called death insurance)...and a cancer cover...hmmmm...

so anyway...its a start

Hope i didnt totally confuse you...and all my opinions and thoughts are based purely on no factual information or knowledge about any of this stuff...lol...just my observations!!!

Take care
Michelle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2007 03:15AM by Michelle.

I was chatting to mum about this thread earlier today and her experiences are the same as Debbie's in that they use medicare for everything and don't pay a cent. On top of that, if they were in a private health fund, it would have taken them ages to even get to see the specialist at Westmead when dad was first diagnosed however because of medicare they got in virtually straight away.

From her point of view, in relation to HD specifically, private health insurance doesn't necessarily give you access to more HD care but the only thing that medicare doesn't cover is ambulance. I know you can get heath insurance for ambulance cover only so perhaps it might be worthwhile getting that.

I also don't think they can knock back cover for your hubby if he has HD. There are caps on everything you can claim so whether you have a diagnosed disease shouldn't make a difference to those caps (as far as I know).

I think if you're looking into it further, like michelle says, you should probably consider it more for the kids than in relation to HD specifically.

Again, I think our lack of knowledge on this subject just goes to prove how confusing the health system in Australia is becoming!!!

Good luck and let us know how you go with making your decision.

Cheers
Renee

thanks everyone

I guess I probably knew that having health insurance wouldnt make much difference when people have HD

still might look into cos i know we would spend it (we did have one of those accoutns once that you couldnt trnasfer out of, then i rang up and had it changed )

it is all very confusing though

**considers the idea of movin gto victoria** I do like melbourne

well thanks again and i will think about it some more (is thinking that much meant to hurt??)

ta, erica xx

lol...well when your talking thinking insurance i think it hurts no matter what!

i tell ya something erica...its amazing how the insurance companies are back tracking on what they have told me, in regard to my life insurance and disabilty insurance...after the dude from ifsa has spoken to them...they are all my best friends again!

i had a very sincere apology today...verging on kissing my a***... from the insurance company that told me to get tested and come back...and they are saying now that they would be more than happy to look at my application...geez...im nearly wondering if i could sue them and pay for my retirement...lol...just kidding

but thanks erica for putting me onto IFSA they certainly have some power over the companies to tell them to do the right thing....im still not certain if ill get it but i shall see what happens second time round!

i guess through all this i have learnt that insurance companies will try and get rid of you quick smart once they get a wiff of hd....

but we are smarter and more resourceful than i thinked they barganed on......so if anything they have learnt a little about hd...and not to mess with us!!


sorry to bombared your thread with all about me!!!...lol...but just wanted to say thanks...

good luck with the health insurance hunt...you think your brain hurts now!!...look out!!

Michelle



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2007 04:50AM by Michelle.

let them kiss your butt

no need to thank me but probably thank my friend GOOGLE

and you dont need to apologise for bombrding my thread...besides, it wasnt about me, it was just my question, but it all relates to each of us at one time or another

**note to self - try putting baby to bed next time to avoid one handed typing with my wrong hand**

erica

Now THAT is really cool Michelle!

it is cool Barb!...it means the process has been a whole lot longer than i expected...and i dont want to get my hopes up too much...but i shall see what happens!

That's great news Michelle!!

The only thing I'd say be careful of is that they don't provide you with a policy now and you start paying premiums only to find out that when you really do need to start using the insurance they can get out of paying you. I don't really know if this will be a problem because you've been very upfront with them but I always hear horror stories about insurance companies finding ways not to pay people for some silly reason. If it hasn't been covered already, maybe you should just check with the IFSA guy to make sure 20-30 years down the track and they can't suddenly turn around and say 'You were aware of HD prior to taking out the policy' or something like that.

I certainly hope that's not the case but better to have that settled beforehand and something in writing!

I'll also be letting my brother and sister know about the IFSA when they decide to start looking at insurance!

Good luck

Renee

Renee i was just saying that to someone yesterday...i know exactly what your saying and i will be asking that question, it was even suggested that maybe a get a solicitor to look at the policy...so i will see how i go!