What are the health cover options for single parents?

You can choose to purchase single health cover just for yourself and avoid the extra cost of private health insurance for your children. This is the most economical option available and offers the benefits under lifetime health cover and enables you to avoid the 1% Medicare Levy Surcharge.

Healthy children are generally very low users of private health care and many parents are content with using Medicare coverage and, if they need private health services for their children, paying for it directly without medical insurance.

If you want private health cover for your children as well as for yourself, but not for an adult partner, some health insurance companies offer discounted rates for single parents. The discount is usually between 15% and 25% on the full family rates.

Single parent cover is an economical option if you are planning to have a baby and you want private health insurance for the mother and children, but not for the father. Newborn babies do sometimes need very expensive health care, especially if they are premature.

To make sure you are getting the very best Health cover for you money, go to www.ozecover.com.au. We search and compare every Australian health insurance company and product for you at no charge.

LOCK IN YOUR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE

Peter Carroll, health fund actuary and director of consumer website Ozecover, advises consumers to lock in their current health fund premiums before health insurers increase their rates in April. Ozecover suggests consumers pay yearly if possible. This can reduce premiums by up to 10 per cent.

Be sure to compare private health insurance products to make sure you have the right one for you and your family.

How do I choose private health cover?

There are thousands of products on the market, and sorting through them is a difficult task even for experts.

To get good value for money, the product you select is more important than the particular insurer you choose. The primary decision for you to make is about hospital cover.

Once you have decided what to do about your hospital cover, you can think about whether it is worthwhile for you to pay more to get the extra benefits of general cover too. It does not make sense to spend more on extra premiums than you do on the health services they cover, many of which are routine day-to-day costs. If you think you might also benefit from adding general cover to your hospital cover, we suggest you discuss this directly with the Fund you choose.

You really need help to compare private health insurance products, otherwise you will spend many hours trying to sort it out yourself. The Quick Quote facility on Ozecover is designed to help you sort through all the different products, based on the information you tell us about yourself and your family. In most circumstances, the Quick Quote will suggest to you a list of hospital insurance covers from ten different insurers sorted in order of price. We suggest you make your primary decision about the hospital cover you want and, if you decide to buy, you may be able to apply directly through this site, because some have direct electronic linking to Ozecover.