She's On The Money - A Healthy Insurance

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

In Aus, on April 1st every year health insurance premiums go up and this year, they went up by an average of 2.74%. But what does that even mean, do we really need health insurance and why do high income earners need to pay extra tax if they don’t have cover? Today we answer it all! Oh and here is the little linky link we spoke about lots today - it's very helpful and has all the health insurance answers! Much love!Our very own money wizard and fearless leader Victoria Devine has written a book! Click here to order!Love the pod but looking for a more hands-on approach to your money? Look no further. Our budgeting & cash flow masterclass is the tool you need to help overhaul your finances for good. Join Victoria as she steps you through your budgeting and cash flow with all of the smarts and none of the intimidating jargon. Finally, if you're in a money mess and need help untangling the muddle - we've got you sorted - simply record your question and send it through to us at [e-mail] and you may just end up on the podcast! The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. On April 1st this year, like every year, health insurance premiums went up and a few changes took place that may impact you. So what are these changes? What do they mean? And is health insurance actually important or can our money be better spent elsewhere? My name is Georgia King and joining me today as always is financial advisor, Victoria Devine. V, we have spoken about health insurance and the private versus the public system before

on the podcast. Can you explain why we are doing another episode on it today? Of course I can. I feel like there's been a lot of confusion in our community around our intentions when it comes to private and public health. And our intentions are to be incredibly clear about the differences, not to have a judgment sway on either. So you and I, we don't actually care if you have public or private health insurance or whatever way you go. All I want is for you to be educated on the decision you're making so that if push comes to shove and something happens to you, you're in a position where you go, yeah, that was the decision I made. I was educated, not, oh my God, I didn't know, or I should have fixed this or, you know, something could have

been better. But as a base level G, our public system is incredible. It is something so special. And, you know, after the federal budget came out and we have so much more funding as well, it's only going to get better. I've been getting DM after DM on Instagram, just about how great it and the feedback from that pod that we dropped and it's honestly so special. Someone else DM'd me the other day and said, hey V, in response to your federal budget and mental health facilities and increased allocation of funds to mental health, if it wasn't for this allocation my current hospital wouldn't have been able to start opening up Victoria's first women's only mental health facility. I think people forget how much private health systems rely on public funding as

well. So many people think that the Royal Women's Hospital provides mental health services for women but they don't. They only cater for postpartum but the Hopetown Women's Hospital in Elsterwick, so that's here in Victoria for those of you wondering where that is, will be a generalised private healthcare service with a lot of federal and state funding to cater to both public and private patients. So when this budget came out and the mental health budget had a hefty amount, it made the public system very, very happy but it equally benefited the private. So I think it's really important to remember that these things are actually really intertwined and we are so lucky to live in a country that prioritizes one our mental health because mental health still

isn't prioritized internationally in fact it's not even recognized as a health issue internationally yet and in addition to that knowing that you know if you or I got injured Georgia or in an accident we could walk into emergency and actually get seen and not having been financially impacted after the feedback we got from especially our maternity episode we are not saying that public is bad we just want to highlight why some people pick private and even internally in our she's on the money team we've had this discussion before some of us have private health care some of us have public health care and we just don't mind either way it's what suits our values and what suits our needs and there are really valid reasons why some people genuinely feel like they need

private health insurance but to have a baby in Australia to do all of the normal stuff you absolutely don't need it it's just a luxury and I think that we need to see it as that but in saying that gee we were talking as well one there are a number of changes which we should get into and two there are a number of benefits as well if you have to pay the Medicare surcharge because you know obviously we don't want to pay surcharge and sometimes it's actually financially better for us to go and get a base level of private health insurance and not have to pay that surcharge and actually get something out of it, right? It's not because we say, oh, if you earn more money, you absolutely have to have it. It's actually, if you earn more money,

it kind of makes financial sense to get something instead of nothing and paying a surcharge to the government come tax time, which is exactly why we're having this conversation right now. So you personally have enough time to go and do your own research and make a decision that is right for you. 100%. And it is confusing because there is so much information out there. So I guess today's episode is really just a non-judgmental chat about kind of all the options, the difference between the public and the private system, why people would choose either option. And yeah, we're just going to get into the nitty gritty.

Yeah. So as you said, up the top of this EPG, every year on the 1st of April, which is also April Fool's Day, so sometimes it does feel like a bit of a joke with how much they increase, we do see an increase in health insurance premiums. And this year that increase was 2.74%, which was the lowest increase in 20 years. And in saying that they did go up in October, but that was actually delayed because of COVID. They pushed it out so that we didn't have that increase. So yes, that happened semi-recently, but it was actually pushed out to benefit us all. That 2.74% increase actually means that insurance providers

on average bumped up their prices by 2.74%. However, some insurers would have bumped up there's a lot more and others a little bit less. So why is it 2.74%? That's an average, right? It's an average. So Jay, every year the health insurance companies actually go and consult with the federal minister for health to work out what their premiums should be moving forward and then make a decision in accordance with the increased cost of providing health insurance each year. So it's not just a number that they go, oh, we should increase it because why not? Like it is actually in direct relation to how much it costs to provide that care. And then the government reviews all of it, and then they release what the average rate rise will be, which then comes

into effect on the 1st of April, i.e. April Fool's Day. So that happened. But then, Jay, this year, another change that is going to happen is that Australians are now allowed to stay on their private health insurance until they're the age of 31. On their parents. Yeah, on their parents' health insurance, sorry. Whereas previously, it was up to the age of 25, which I'm a little bit bitter about, if I'm honest. Why? Because I'm about to turn 30, Jay. I got kicked off my parents' private health insurance at 25 and they had really good insurance so at 24 and like six months I went and got all my teeth done because for a kid on their particular health cover there was no gaps dental so I just like got everything done and made sure it was all well and good and for the past

five nearly five years I've been paying for my own health insurance which you poor thing it is so hard but also again a privilege to be able to afford it absolutely but you're saying that I could have had it for another year coming what can I go back on my parents cover for another year because they've got that Erica cool exactly they've got the creme de la crop of the insurance and I've just got the like okay what are the base needs what is the cheapest I can get with the best outcome whereas mom and dad they're like oh no no we've got everything we've got the bells we've got the whistles oh so jealous anyway the other thing that happened on April Fool's Day this year G was that the Department of Health used the average premium increase amount

of that 2.74% as well as Australia's inflation rate to update their rebate adjustment factor. Fancy terminology, but that just determines how much you'll receive back from the government for your health insurance. So you get a little bit of cash back, do you? Get a little bit of cash back for having private health insurance. You do indeed. So why does this happen every year?

Why do the insurance premiums rise? because it would be so nice if they just stayed the same forever. I'd like to pay the 1980 rates actually. Wouldn't that be good? That would be really good. But as we mentioned before, it's because the cost of providing that care increases each and every single year and surprisingly, gee, insurance providers don't actually do it to annoy us or upset us.

In fact, I'm pretty sure given they work in the health insurance space, they actually want the best for us. So they're probably like, oh, we have to, what's the lowest? Like we're trying to look after these guys but they also need to pay for the cover that we're providing. Otherwise, they're going to go out of business. But it is really because they need to keep up with the rising price of healthcare and make sure that they're keeping up with inflation and the increase of people using hospitals, because obviously our population is increasing and the expense of advanced medical equipment

and the fact that everybody now is just living longer. So it makes sense that it increases, albeit quite frustrating when you get an insurance premium increase because you're like, man, that is getting really expensive. Moving along here, V, what does private health insurance actually get you? So, the best way to answer this is actually to do a bit of a comparison between the two. The Australian government actually has a really clear outline of this, which I'm going to go on and overview here just because it's better to say it this way than to say, oh, one's better than the other. They're not. It's just you're comparing apples with oranges. They're different offerings. Obviously, when you have private

health insurance, you're actually going to benefit from all the things you had with the public health insurance. You're not picking one or the other. Private health insurance is kind of like the cream on the top. Do you want that? You don't have to have it. Some people don't like cream in their coffee. That's cool. You're still getting the coffee, right? And arguably, you're still getting a good coffee because it's the same one. So private health insurance, if you have insurance that includes hospital cover, then you can choose to be treated as a private patient in a public or private hospital. You might be able to choose your own doctor. You might be able to choose as to when you're admitted to hospital, whereas with public health insurance, you don't usually have

that option. If you are a private patient in a public hospital, public hospital waitlists still apply. And if you choose to be a patient in either a private or a public hospital, Medicare will cover you for 75% of the Medicare benefits schedule fee for associated medical costs. So, the remaining will be charged to you and depending on the policy you have, the insurer might cover some or all of that. So, we call that the gap. So, what happens is you might, you know, have this elective surgery that you go and do and let's call it like $4,000 and then Medicare comes back and says, gee, we're going to cover

$3,000 of that and then the gap is $1,000. So, with your private health insurance, sometimes all of that would be covered. So, you're out of pocket $0. Yeah. But then sometimes your private health insurance might say, okay, G, but we only cover 60% of that fee. So they'll pay for $600 and you're still out of pocket $400. Gotcha, so it depends on your policy.

So it completely depends on your policy. Some are 100% cover, some are 70% cover, some are 40% cover. You really need to look into what that actually means for you. Then in comparison with a public system, you can be treated as a public patient in a public hospital by a doctor appointed by that hospital. You can't choose your doctor and you might not have a choice about when you'll be admitted to hospital.

but again, you're still going to be admitted to hospital and you're still going to have a good doctor. So with the public system, you're also able to choose to be treated as a public patient, even if you're privately insured as well. So there's a little bit more flexibility. And as a public patient, you don't need to pay anything. And the only things Medicare doesn't cover are private patient hospital costs like accommodation or theatre fees and medical and hospital costs incurred overseas if you don't have travel insurance and unnecessary procedures like cosmetic surgery or emergency department admin or facility fees. So this is all within the hospital space, just to be really clear. Yeah, just within the hospital space, that's not talking about

specialists or anything like that. It's just if you are going to go into hospital. Yeah. And then when it comes to pharmaceuticals, so the drugs that we get, we are so lucky because in America, they don't have anything like this. But under the PBS, so this is a pharmaceutical benefits scheme, you only pay part of the cost for most prescription medications. The rest is covered by the PDS and you need to show your Medicare card to get that discount, which is fine, very easy. When it comes to private health insurance though, if something isn't actually listed on the PBS, often you're able to talk to your private health insurer and get that covered, which is actually really nice. And then most insurers will be able to add that to your policy

and then they'll probably require you to make a co-payment and have some limits on how much you can actually claim and keep in mind some prescription medications aren't on the PBS so you will actually have to pay full price for those so it's worth understanding that but it's actually really hard to understand what you might need if you do get sick or not and that's one of the things I'm really passionate about so I'm talking about health care insurance today we are not talking about trauma insurance TPD we're not talking about life insurance which I think you should all be absolutely considering and making sure you're appropriately covered because if something serious happens like you get cancer and you have to go and do all these really expensive treatments

and then there's a new trial drug that you really want to you know engage with and your doctor is saying hey this has been working really well we want to try it but it's not on the pbs yet that could cost you like 30 or 40 000 just to do that i've heard of situations where it's even more than that and that's where private health insurance might come up but no one can predict if they're going to get cancer yeah so i think it's all about understanding your own risk and what is going to happen. And I guess that comes back to your personal values and what is actually a value to you. Well, I used to have it. I think I had it for two years and I was like, this isn't financially worth it for me because I haven't touched it once. I don't need it. So I'm going to give it away.

Yeah, exactly. It's all about making a decision that is best for you and your financial situation, not going, oh, well, Victoria, she's on the podcast. She has private health insurance, must mean we need it. That's absolutely not the case because at a base level, our public system is incredible. It's just because I have all these bells and whistle treatments that I have to go and get that I go, yep, cool. I'm going to pay that. Yep. My private health insurance, I think cost me $160 a month at this point. And it is paying for itself because every two or three months I have a $300 appointment that then has medications that I need to purchase in association. So for me, it works out. But I think the really important thing here is that it's different for everybody.

all right let's talk about ambulances yes i said the word right how do you what do you mean is this a word you can't say yeah i really struggle with that word i'm not gonna say it again one more time please no no i'm not gonna say it again ambulance yeah i usually um stumble over the bully ants part yeah i suck but anyway i'm actually really excited but i'm also disappointed that i got excited about it because i know tony's not gonna cut it out in the editing anyway all right so paramedic cover varies from state to state and in Queensland and Tasmania emergency services are actually provided for free which is really cool another reason why Tassie is creme de la creme so good in New South Wales and ACT they do have the same but only for pensioners

and then concession card holders right in Northern Territory certain health care card holders and or concession card holders don't have to pay fees and then in Victoria pension and concession card holders are covered for critically necessary transport, but Commonwealth seniors health care card holders aren't covered. Sucked in. Yeah, I know. What a doozy. Anyway, in South Australia and Western Australia, you do have to pay fees as well. But in Western Australia, I believe if you're over the age of 65 and you're on the pension, you'll get free trips as well. If you don't fall into any of these categories covering the fees, then you can get covered either directly from the ambulance authority in your state or via a health insurer. It is really important to note

here that medicare does not cover any of your ambulance transport fees you nailed it thank you mum how bad how bad okay so that's interesting because i would have thought that the ambulance ambulance um i would have thought that would have been a free service like uh the good people in queensland and tasmania offer because surely you wouldn't want people not to call because they don't want to pay like that's a bit yeah i think there might be a lot of underlying politics that we haven't researched that's true nearly well enough to have this debate on the podcast okay well that said then let's move on to medical services and general saying that if somebody in our community does have an answer to that please sign into our dms yeah let us know

i reckon we would like to know why that's the case paramedics in our community yeah absolutely how special how special i know incredible anyway when it comes to medical services and generalized treatments if you visit a doctor outside of the hospital medicare will reimburse you 100% of the MBS fee for a GP and 85% of the MBS fee for a specialist. The same deal no matter if you do or don't have private health insurance which is great and if your doctor bog bills you won't need to pay a cent. In saying that I know a lot of people in our community are like what do you mean bog bills I can't find a doctor that bog bills. They do exist my friend but in saying that they are often harder to get into because I know that some doctors can actually be flexible as well

like it's up to the doctor to choose to charge that gap because at this point medicare actually rebate the doctor the same no matter what they charge the patient they don't get more for charging you more which yeah like it's good and it's bad it just means that you know they're running a business and they're setting their own fees and that's not bad and if you don't like those fees don't go to that doctor yeah i'm just gonna jump in here v and say that i do know a very good bulk billing clinic who does let you book in appointments. So I don't know what I will do with that information. DM me if you're interested and you live in Melbourne. Great. So G King will give doctor referrals now. Fabulous. All right. Well, Medicare doesn't provide benefits while

G King does, but Medicare doesn't provide benefits for most things that we often hear as quote extras so this is a majority of dental physio occupational therapy speech therapy chiro podiatry etc lots of people arrange their private health care insurance so it does cover those extras though but if you don't use them again review your cover and make sure you're only cover for the things that actually matter and something that i think is worth noting right is that you can actually remove things or add things from your cover so for example i was negotiating i'm with Bupa and I was negotiating with them for my private health insurance about a year ago and I called them up because I honestly even I was a bit confused about the levels of cover and what

that actually meant and what's gold silver or bronze and all of that other fun stuff so I called them up and had a chat with the girl on the phone and she was like well what do you want to be covered for do you want to be covered for maternity care and I was like well no because I'm not planning on having a baby anytime soon yeah and she was like oh okay well why don't we remove that and I was like, great, removed it. And it decreased my premium significantly. So if there are things on your cover that you know you don't need or won't use, call and get them removed so that you're not paying for a service you're never going to use. Just makes sense. And the girls on the phone were really, really lovely. So easy to work with. Back to what Medicare does provide

benefits for in this space. So they would provide benefits for things like consultation fees for doctors and specialists, tests and exams by doctors needed to treat illnesses like x-rays and pathology tests so like blood work and eye tests and most surgical and therapeutic procedures that happen in a public hospital and some procedures by approved dentists and specific items for the allied health services as a part of the chronic disease plan which is kind of cool i think that you know that's actually quite comprehensive it's not like only emergency that is covered which i know is probably confusing coming from me but going into it i was like well what does it actually include because so many people think that medicare only covers emergency

services which is not the case at all they benefit you in a very wide array of ways so that is basically everything in terms of the comparison between public and private but the policy you choose will actually determine exactly what you're covered for so again understand it deeply and something I really promote is picking up the phone I know most of us are millennials and we somehow are allergic to picking up the phone and asking questions and we avoid it at all costs but it is going to be one of the easiest ways to actually determine is this right for me and you can quiz the person they are actually unable to provide advice to you they're only able to you know say yes or no or this is covered or this isn't covered and explain things deeply unfortunately you won't

be able to call them and be like hey which one should I get because that's illegal yeah but you can call them and say well what does it include what doesn't it include and you know well what would I use that for how does this work and I think that that really empowers you so next year when April 1st comes and the insurances increase again, you can understand deeply why you already have it and then re-evaluate whether it's worth keeping it still. So if you do want to find out more information, I really encourage you to take a look at the government website, which we have linked in our show notes today. We certainly have there. I think it's time for a little breaky break. I love a little breaky break. Sip some water and drink some tea. Great. But when we return,

we will be talking about the Medicare levy surcharge, which we touched on above. And we will of course be outlining ways you can save on your insurance if you are looking at getting it don't go anywhere friends see you on the flip side we are back friends and fam ew fam how annoying is it when people say hey fam does that annoy anyone else just me anyway you are my fam um victoria's looking at her phone and not at me so I just feel slightly awkward as he's probably coming through the microphone right now. The point that I'm trying to make here is that if you love...

We are family, Georgia King. If you love this show, then please join us on Facebook, the Instagrams, the YouTubes, the TikToks. You are like an old person trapped in a young person's body, Georgia King. Do you think I'm going to need to get TikTok? I was having this little moment the other day and I was like, you're not going to need it, but, I mean, it would probably work. But, I mean, as a person who wants to work in the media,

who I guess does work in the media. It actually makes me laugh so hard. Sidestep personal conversation about Georgia Keegan on the pod today. Fast forward two minutes if you're not interested. But Georgia actually works in a relatively high-profile business doing social media, which makes me laugh so hard. Don't tell them. I'm not going to tell them, but it makes me laugh

because her social media is dire. The last post I did was when we won that award Oh, shout out to us from when was it? Ages ago. It was like November or something. I'll pop a new pick up today. How does that sound? Thank you, Georgia.

But it does make me laugh. For someone who is so good at social media, they just aren't on social media at all. In fact, you've got Instagram. My partner actually works in the digital marketing space and, as you know, is quite similar to you in terms of like the outcome. He doesn't even have Instagram and seldom ever uses Facebook. I respect that. What a man.

You know, sometimes you just never know what people are good at based on their Instagrams because they might not even have them. Moving on from stories about George. So Bea, a lot of people have been asking in our group about the tax implications involved when it comes to health insurance. A lot of people have been asking if they should just get it because it will be more financially beneficial for them than not to. Talk us through that.

Absolutely. And I think that's a really good place to start this conversation, which is, well, what makes most financial sense to you? and I've said this before if it is financially beneficial to have it why would you not want to have a private health insurance policy than not be covered and just pay another surcharge to the government which I get and the surcharge exists because people pay it but I think that you know if you could find a policy that financially works for you and it makes sense I would prefer you to have the cover than not it absolutely makes sense in that aspect but I think a lot of people are

just dragging their feet on it they can't be bothered or they just don't know where to start or they don't know how to do it and that's where the she's on the money community can come to the rescue and I reckon this week we might have a thread in the Facebook group Georgia just talking about okay like if you're in this situation what did you prioritize you don't need it but you don't see a value in having it but you want it because of the financial benefits so what's the best policy or what you know what are you guys doing because obviously we don't want to provide the advice But sometimes learning from other people's experiences is really powerful because reviewing everybody's websites is hard and dry. It is hard and dry. And also, I think the comparison websites

are slightly biased, right? Like if you pay more, then you might get bumped to the top of the list. And I've said that a million times. Please avoid the comparison websites, especially the biggest ones, because one, they make commission from you signing up. And we're not saying that commission is bad. It just means that they're actually not authentically promoting the product that is best for you, but potentially promoting the product that paid the most to come up at the top of the list, which is really sad. And I think that they give commission a not so shiny name. Whereas when we talk about like mortgage brokers, they get a commission, but they work in a completely separate non-biased way, which means I want mortgage brokers to get paid a commission because it

means that I as a consumer don't have to pay more to engage one of their services. But when it comes to health insurances and comparison websites, they're actually marketing tools. And I think we need to see those differences because some people hear this podcast and they'll hear commissions, bad, got it, Victoria, no problems. And then they hear broker gets commissions, bad, no, absolutely not the case. So it's different horses for different courses and we just need to understand it. But to take a quick step back, Georgia, let's actually talk about what the Medicare levy surcharge actually is. Because for those of you who might not know or might not have even considered it yet, it's really important to understand. So if you earn over $90,000 and don't

have private health insurance, you're going to have to pay the Medicare levy surcharge. And you'll have to pay it if you and your partner have a combined income of $180,000 or more as well. So it's $90,000 for individuals or $180,000 for couples. And then depending on what you earn, you might have to pay an extra 1.5% of your annual earnings to the ATO every year for not being covered. And that is why for some people, it's just more financially sensible to have private health insurance to actually negate that charge. Because if you think about it, if you earned $180,000, like 1% of your income is like $1,800. So that makes sense because you might only be paying $1,200 for private health insurance in one year. It's kind of like, well,

I'd prefer that option and to have some level of cover than have nothing and be paying more. But again, Georgia, this isn't just something that's been created by the government to annoy us because so many people just think that they exist to solely pester us. This is actually designed to help us and it's designed to encourage high income earners to invest in private health cover and to use the private hospital system to take the pressure off the public system for those of us who genuinely can't afford to have private health insurance. So it makes sense when you get into the crux of it. And you're like, well, if you earn more than $90,000 a year, like as an individual, you probably can afford it. In which case, let's say you paying for it so that there's

not so much pressure when things happen in the public system, because it just is all fear in love and war, right? Yeah. Yeah. So people need to pay this on top of the Medicare levy. So that's an addition as well, not just on its own or one or the other, which is the extra 2% tax that they have to pay to access the incredible Medicare system. Yeah, so Medicare is not just free. We're all paying for it. No, we're all paying for it without taxes. But how lucky are we?

I know. It's a great system. Well done, Australia. Thank you. I'm saying thank you on behalf of the country. Tell me about lifetime health care loading. Where did you hear this term? I Googled it.

Yeah, it was on the Gov website. It was. So this is a government initiative that encourages you to choose private health insurance early on in life because the earlier you're insured, usually the cheaper it is for life. And if you haven't got private hospital cover from the year that you turned 31, which gee, you and I have heaps of times, you will be made to make a 2% LHC loading on top of your premium for every year you're aged over 30 if you do decide to invest in health insurance down the line. That's Spenno. That is Spenno.

Yeah. Expensive as get out, which I don't love, but you know what? It is what it is. We're all about education here so let's understand yep let's do it it's going to impact us negatively we can avoid it an example of this would be if you took out private hospital cover when you were 40 you'd actually have to pay an extra 20 on the cost of this cover per year for 10 years that's a lot and then the maximum loading does cap out how generous but it caps out at 70 it's a lot of dollar rules so once you paid the loading for 10 years of consistent cover that loading wraps up and you drop back down to paying the normal fees that everybody else was paying but to avoid it you've got to get private hospital cover before you turn 31 and then you won't have to pay that

loading and if you're new to Australia by the way and you're over 31 and purchase hospital cover within the first 12 months of actually registering for Medicare benefits the loading is only going to apply to hospital insurance rather than the general extras cover so they obviously have some level of flexibility there but for Australians who've lived here all our lives they're like no you had time yeah golly gosh there's been a lot of pressure so much stuff yeah there's a lot a lot to consider um on that v though how do we how do we figure out if we actually need it and if it is financially worth it for us yeah look i told you about my situation before which i'm really open about and it is semi-expensive so for me like back to the example of those physio visits

let's say it's $400 a year or maybe then I spend another $400 at the dentist then I'd add that amount up and I'd add it to the lifetime health care loading and then the medicare levy surcharge that you have to pay and if the total here is less than what you would pay for health insurance then it's probably going to be a worthwhile expense for you to go and look into private health care insurance if it's not maybe it's not but again I know so many people who have it just for the security blanket it provides yeah so financially we are a finance podcast we are talking to you about the options and how it's going to financially impact you, you need to make the right decision for you. And unfortunately, Georgia King and I, we can't do that for you. Definitely. I definitely

can't. Yeah. V, lots of people in our community lately have been asking if they could perhaps just create like an emergency fund for medical expenses, like a medical expenses hub that they could draw from if required. Is that a good idea? Look, it's a smart idea, but again, it comes into whether it is financially viable for you and obviously with the additional charges you'd get if you earn over a certain amount maybe it isn't viable and it's actually better for you to just get private health insurance because otherwise you're paying the medicare levy surcharge in addition to having this savings account that you've got it's not actually feasible if that's the case but then in addition to that how do you know how much your medical expenses are going to

be like if you go oh a thousand dollars is enough and then you're actually out of pocket for a massive accident of $10,000, like you're still in debt. So I think it's about whether it's a value to you. I probably wouldn't recommend doing it that way. I always, always, always recommend having an emergency fund. Like that is something that I prioritise before debt reduction even. But I don't want you to have to go and make decisions about your health just based on a savings fund. Like, yep, cool. If that's a value to you and it makes you feel safe and secure, go for it my friend do it but let's actually look at what fees and charges you have to pay here in addition for not having the private health care insurance okay good answer thanks

as kate in our group said in a thread literally from a few months back i did some scrolling private health insurance is an innately personal decision and what suits you may not suit the next person so we can't just tell our listeners what to choose i wish it was as easy as that i wish Which we could be like, hey, here's the guide to life. This is how much you need to invest. This is how much you need to save. These are your goals. This is your values.

Here is your fee. Like that would be so easy. Victoria's guide to life. Yeah, but unfortunately, it's not like that. And what my values are aren't your values. And that's what makes us all special. So let's actually spend the time and the energy working out what we need to be covered for and what that actually looks like for you.

And the number one thing here, do your research. Understand what you're getting yourself into. understand what you're going to be up for if you don't have this cover and then what the cover would cost because even if the cover is going to cost a bit more like let's say it's a hundred dollars more a year great maybe that hundred dollars is worth it to you now because you're like all right well it is more expensive to have private health insurance but also i'm getting nothing for this thing i'm going to pay anyway so a hundred bucks more and there's a little bit of value there okay v let's wrap it up here you're done with me with my final question for today

how can we save on private health insurance if we are going down this line look there are a heap of ways to quote save on private health insurance a lot of people do choose to pay for all their insurance premiums in one hit and they do that before the 1st of April so that they can make the most of the previous year's lower price again that's a privilege that a lot of people might not have access to and obviously that's not overly helpful if at this stage we're in May which we are, but now it's something to think about for next year's price increase. Another thing I'd recommend is don't look at the shiny marketing materials and don't look at the snazzy sign-up perks that entice you to pay for things you don't actually need. Like, I don't care if you give me

a Fitbit. Like, that Fitbit's not going to help me if I'm paying an extra $100 a month that I didn't need to be paying. I promise you going out and buying your own Fitbit as a reward for putting private health insurance into place is going to be a better idea. Again, compare options and policies, make use of these insurance companies' call centres. Call them. They are trained. Ask them what it means. Take some notes. Be like, thank you so much. I'll call back if I decide to go with your policy. Call the other person and say, hey, cool, this person could give me this. What's your cover on this? Think about your medical history as well, whether that's personally or your direct family history. So have your biological parents experienced any level of

medical complications or issues that have arisen? And is that genetic? For example, if breast cancer runs really deeply through your family and your mum had it and your sister had it and then your grandmother has it, obviously you are at a higher risk than the average bear to get breast cancer sadly. So maybe it is a good idea to be, you know, future-proofing because you're like, you know what, it just is the peace of mind I need right now. So understanding what that means genetically for you is really important. Another hot tip coming from G King today, steering away from combined couples cover. We were having this conversation earlier and you had a look into it and we found that combined couples cover is really generic and it covers you for things you might not

need, i.e. G King and I, we haven't actually done the testing, but both of us are nearly 99.95% sure we don't have prostates. But if we got combined couples cover, we would be covered for prostate cancer, which is not all that helpful given I really don't think I have one. and just making sure that you're paying for what you need and not what you don't need so if there's shiny extras for physio but you never go to the physio and won't go maybe you don't need to include that and don't be afraid to use different providers it might seem easier to have everything all in one place but you can sometimes get better value if you blend some policies from different providers genius genius all right there's smoothie smoothies are better than fruit juice god i love

smoothies. Shout out to the Manalizer Fruit and Veg. Spent a lot of time there. They make really good smoothies. Large, extra thick tropical paradise. That was my order. Oofed. Great choice. All right. I think we're nearly done here, Georgia. Let's wrap it up. But I guess the moral of today's story is no judgment. Do whatever is best for you financially and health wise, I guess. But hopefully we've laid it out really clearly here. You do you, boo. You do you, boo. and we will leave the link in the show notes for that incredibly helpful government website. V, I do think officially that is all we have time for today.

It is not, Georgia. Just before we head off, we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They're the traditional custodians of the lands, the waterways and the skies all across Australia. We thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn.

We pay our respects to Elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness. and remember guys that the advice shared on she's on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances she's on the money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision and we promise vd is an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34 132 463 257 AFSL 339 151. And of course, thank you to Tone, our producer, for putting together today's podcast, which I think is going to be quite a long one. I think it's going to be

a long one. Feels like we've been in here for a while. Yeah, I know. I know. We love Tony. Cheers, Tony. Cheers, Tone. See you all next week. Bye, guys. Thank you.