Private health insurance

Australian Private health insurance is limited to those services & products not covered by Medicare. The ATO (Australian Taxation Office) encourages middle-high income earners to get Private Health Insurance. An additional 1% Medicare Levy Surcharge is payable by those taxpayers who do not have Private Health Insurance & earn more than AUD$50,000.

The Top Health Insurance companies in Australia by various sources are (sorted alphabetically):

1. AHM (ahmg.com.au)
2. Australian Unity (australianunity.com.au)
3. GMHBA (gmhba.com.au)
4. HBA (hba.com.au)
5. HBF (hbf.com.au)
6. HCF (hcf.com.au)
7. HIF (Health Insurance Fund - hif.com.au)
8. Health Partners (healthpartners.com.au)
9. Latrobe Health (lhs.com.au)
10. Manchester Unity (manchesterunity.com.au)
11. MBF (mbf.com.au)
12. Medibank Private (www.medibank.com.au)
13. Mutual Community (mutualcommunity.com.au
14. NIB (nib.com.au)
15. NRMA (nrma.com.au
16. Peoplecare (peoplecare.com.au)
17. SGIC (sgic.com.au)
18. SGIO (sgio.com.au)
19. St Lukes (stlukes.com.au)
10. Teachers Union Health (tuh.com.au)

Public health insurance – Medicare

The public health insurance system was first presented to Australian citizens in 1984 and is also available to Permanent Residents.

The state subsidizes medicines and treatments at a relatively high cost, about $4 trillion, for those covered by Medicare. Insurance includes subsidized medication, medical advice from experts, X-ray pictures, and most common surgeries.

People with a low income do not pay tax, which is based on a family’s yearly income. The tax ranges from 1.5% to 2.5% of income.

Health insurance usually does not cover dental treatments, ambulance services, physiotherapy, and some expensive medicines. It also does not cover cases in which a third party is involved, such as in case of an accident.