We all go to our best friends or closed ones when in need of answers. Likewise, Google has become a modern-day friend to all of us, where people around the globe ask anything they are confused about and need an answer. This is why, we decided to look at the most ‘Googled’ nib health insurance questions and answer them here.

1. What is hospital cover?

Hospital cover covers the expenses of your hospital accommodation, medical services or treatments taken in the hospital, and your doctor’s visiting fees while you are receiving treatment as a private patient. Private hospital insurance policies cover in-hospital services listed under the Medicare Benefits Schedule – MBS, whereas, some policies exclude certain services to ensure low prices for customers.

2. What are waiting periods?

You have to complete ‘waiting periods’ whenever you are signing up for new health insurance or upgrading the existing one. In simple words, it is a period before you can actually claim your health insurance’s benefits. It is necessary for everyone to serve ‘waiting periods’. The period varies from one health cover to other.

3. How nib health insurance claims work?

When you are buying nib health insurance, it is important to go through your cover carefully, analyzing everything that you are and not covered for. This will help you know what you can claim and not. NIB provides two types of health claims - hospital claims and Extras claims.

4. How much is nib health insurance?

The cost of nib health insurance varies based on the level of health cover you buy. To give you a brief about the cost, know it that, the more you are covered for, the higher you have to pay. Speaking of which, cheap does not always mean the best. Our best advice would be that for quality health cover, spend a little extra.

5. How to save on health insurance and how to keep health premiums low?

At nib, you do not have to pay anything unnecessarily. Things that are truly important to cover in your health insurance will be included and the rest is overlooked. Therefore, you do not have to pay more for your health insurance than you actually should. It is best recommended to contact nib providers for gaining knowledge about your policy and to ensure you are not covered for unnecessary things. The next easy way to keep your health cover cost low is by looking at the discounts nib offers. Nib provides up to 4% discount to customers who pay through automatic direct debits from their bank account.

6. How does the private health insurance rebate work?

Do you know that you are eligible to receive a rebate from the government of Australia if you are currently holding private health insurance? The Australian Government Rebate amount is tiered based on your or your family’s income. You can use this rebate amount to reduce your health cover’s premium. You may claim it as a tax credit while lodging your tax return with ATO - Australian Taxation Office.

7. Is there a tax penalty for not having health insurance?

You have to pay a Medicare Levy Surcharge up to 1.5%, given you are single and earn a taxable income of $90,000 and above. Further, if you are a couple or have, a family with taxable income is $180,000 and no health insurance; you are again required to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge of your total income.

8. Does health insurance cover x-rays?

If you are an in-patient or admitted patient in a private hospital, you can avail medical claim on your X-Rays. Meaning, that your health cover will cover the expenses of X-Rays in the given situations. However, outpatient X-Rays are not covered.

The Bottom Line

Nib is a well-known health insurance provider in Australia that caters to its customers’ all health-related needs. Budget Policy is associated with major health insurance providers in Australia therefore; you can get many offers and a platform to compare the prices of all policies.

So, what are you waiting for? Before time goes by, visit us or send us a nib quote and let us help you with your health insurance needs.