Time to read : 3 Minutes
Have You Used All Of Your Health Insurance Extras?
With only 17 days left of 2023, are you one of the Aussies with unused extras?
🫰 Compare Club data shows that Australians leave $1.3K of their extras to go to waste each year.
😐 That's a lot of money to leave unspent – so let’s discuss how you can maximise your health insurance extras without spending a fortune.
Nine things you need to know
Every December I have the same conversation with people who’ve left it to the end of the year to use up their extras or have suddenly realised they’re paying top dollar for a policy with generous annual limits on dental, physio, chiro, and more that they’ll never come close to using.
The health funds love these people - they’re like gym members who join but stop going after a month.
So how can you get maximum value from your policy? Extras can give people amazing value, but only if they know how to play the system.
If you don't use up your extras, you will usually lose them – as most insurers reset on their annual limits January 1.
A classic example of this is that most Aussie health insurance holders have access to $1,050 of dental rebates but on average only claim $238, meaning they’ve missed out on $812 worth of treatments or check-ups.
That lost value grows the more people you have on a policy. My colleagues think that some families could be missing out on up to $14,812 worth of medical services each year on one particular policy from a major health fund.
Keep your receipts – as most health insurers allow you to claim in the following year for treatments that you had and paid for in this year.
Check what you’ve got remaining and book whatever you can and squeeze it in before Christmas.
If you don't like your extras, shop around and look at switching to a policy that’s a lot closer to what you’ll actually use. There’s no point in paying hundreds of dollars for big annual extras limits if you never use them up.
There are some seriously good value policies right now, including ones that will give you 100% back for a check-up, scale and clean at the dentist. In some cases, that could almost pay for the cost of the policy in the first place.
With another health fund price hike looming in April 2023, it’s never been more important to wring every last cent of value out of your policy.
Last but not least, talk to an expert broker – we're lovely (it's true!) – and do an audit to make sure that your cover actually covers you for what you need. There’s nothing worse than paying for something that you aren’t using, or not getting the best value on the services you want to use!
In good news: There are a group of extras which don't tend to reset – hearing aids and braces for example.
The bottom line
Savvy shoppers can get a lot of value back from their health insurance if they use their extras smartly.
But time is running out, so make sure everyone in your family has had their dental check-up, used some physio and replaced their glasses before your fund resets their extras on 1 Jan.
🤓 I'll be doing that myself next week.
☎️ And, if you do find that you have extras that you don't need, now is the time to talk to your broker to get a better extras package today.
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