What cheap health insurance plan will cover me for optical expenses?
How important is optical cover?
If you’ve had glasses you will know how important they can be. As a child, you may have relied on them to read, if you are older, you probably never go anywhere without your glasses.
One thing you probably know, whether you have had glasses all your life, or just as you get older, is that they can be expensive to replace. And it’s not just the frames that can be costly. If your eyes deteriorate as you get older, replacing the lenses as they do can put a big chunk in your budget. That is where we come in.
* The price shown is per week and applies to a {LIFESTAGE} living in VIC with a $500 excess. It excludes LHC loading and includes a Base Tier Government Rebate
| Extras services (when included on cover) |
|---|
| All extras benefits except as specified below. Waiting Period: 2 Months |
| Optical, home and domestic aids and medical aids. Waiting Period: 6 months |
| Major dental services (including full & partial dentures, orthodontics, crown & bridgework, endodontic services such as root canal, gold fillings, indirect restorations, surgical extractions of a tooth/teeth including wisdom teeth). Waiting Period: 12 Months |
| Health appliances including nebuliser pump, blood glucose monitor, pressure garments, sleep apnoea monitor, extremity pump, hearing aids, orthopaedic appliances (GMHBA approved), prostheses (GMHBA approved non-surgical), tens monitor, podiatry surgical procedures and orthotic appliances (foot). Waiting Period: 12 Months |
| Hospital services (when included on cover) |
|---|
| Accidents - bodily injuries resulting from accidents which occur after the date of joining GMHBA or upgrading to a higher cover. Waiting Period: No |
| Obstetrics and maternity. Waiting Period: 12 months |
| Pre-existing ailment, illness or condition (other than psychiatric, rehabilitation and palliative care). Waiting Period: 12 months |
| Any other benefit for hospital (or hospital substitution) treatment. Waiting Period: 2 months |
A pre-existing condition is one where signs or symptoms of your ailment, illness or condition, in the opinion of a medical practitioner appointed by GMHBA (not your own doctor), existed at any time during the six months preceding the day on which you purchased your hospital insurance or upgraded to a higher level of hospital cover and/or benefit entitlement.
A special waiting period applies to obtain benefits for hospital treatment for new members who have pre-existing conditions. The waiting period also applies to existing members who have recently upgraded their level of hospital cover. If the ailment, illness or condition is considered pre-existing:
New members
New members must wait 12 months for any hospital benefits (other than psychiatric, rehabilitation and palliative care).
Existing members (transferring or upgrading)
Members transferring/upgrading to a higher hospital cover must wait 12 months to get the higher hospital benefits (other than psychiatric, rehabilitation and palliative care).
Existing members (with at least 12 months membership)
Existing members with at least 12 months membership in total across their old and new cover are entitled to the lower benefits on their old cover.
Silver Hospital cover provides the same single room coverage as Gold Hospital, but co-payments of $100 per day up to a maximum of $700 per admission apply. Co-payments are not the same as hospital excess. Please note: Some private hospitals only have single rooms and co-payments will apply.
Co-payments do not apply.
Like the bespectacled Clark Kent himself flying in to save the day, having cheap health insurance options for optical cover can get you out of a lot of tricky situations. And while we don’t promise to be able to help you leap tall buildings in a single bound, we can arrange cheap health insurance options for optical cover for you almost faster than a speeding bullet. And health funds have been coming to the rescue of a lot of glasses-wearing Australians. In the last bit of 2016, health funds like us paid out more in claims for optical cover than we did for all but one other extras treatment, about $233 million in total.
How does optical cover work?
In Australia, there are two main kinds of health insurance – hospital and extras. Hospital insurance could cover you when you need to be admitted for treatment to a private hospital, or a public hospital as a private patient. Some policies could cover you for things like eye surgery. If you choose to have the surgery in a private hospital, you won’t need to worry about public hospital elective surgery waiting lists and might also be able to choose the specialist or surgeon you want. Extras cover could provide benefits for treatments and services such as those you find in cheap health insurance options for optical cover. Extras treatments are those you usually don’t go to hospital for.
As well as optical, extras treatments could include dental, chiro, physio and even things like alternative therapies, travel vaccinations and ambulance cover. The other big thing about all these kinds of treatments is they are usually not covered by Medicare. So, without cheap health insurance options for optical cover, you may have to pay full price. That can sap your budget quicker than kryptonite could sap Superman’s strength. The good news is that eye check consultations are usually covered by Medicare, so that’s one less thing to worry about. After that, we are here to save the day. Cheap health insurance options for optical cover are an example of where health insurance works alongside Medicare. While your eye check could be covered by Medicare, your frames and lenses, including contact lenses, probably won’t be. Cheap health insurance options for optical cover could provide benefits for prescription glasses, prescriptions sunnies and prescription contact lenses. It’s unlikely many health funds will provide benefits for non-prescription sunnies, repairs or frames bought without a prescription or ophthalmologist appointments. Ophthalmologists are eye specialists who can perform operations on the eyes.
What optical cover options are out there?
Offering affordable, flexible and simple plans can be important when choosing cheap health insurance options for optical cover. When it comes to glasses, lenses and contact lenses, you never really know when you will need upgrades or replacements. And if you don’t have glasses, having cheap health insurance options for optical cover can give you the assurance that if one day you do, we could have your back.
We have two main cheap health insurance options for optical cover – Lots Extras and Some Extras. Our Essentials Bundle also offers benefits for optical treatments and services. Bundles are a combination of both hospital and extras cover, and could allow you to be covered for both under a single plan. Both our Lots Extras and Some Extras plans offer you the flexibility of choosing between covers that can provide benefits of 80% or 50% back. That allows you to choose between whether or not you prefer more back from each visit, or if you frequently visit providers, spread your annual limits out across appointments. Annual limits are a cap on how much you can claim per calendar year for a treatment or a service. With our Lots Extras cover you can claim up to $250 per person on a singles cover or $250 per person up to $500 per policy for a couple or family cover per year (providing your cover is up to date and you have served your waiting periods) The waiting period for our cheap health insurance options for optical cover is six months. Waiting periods can vary depending on the treatment or service.