Out of pocket expenses

So I have received my rebates back from both Medicare and my private health insurance and after two surgeries I am out of pocket thus:

Surgeon $3881.60

Anaesthetist $200

Surgery assistant $200

Hospital pharmacist $95.22

TOTAL $4376.82


Probably not a bad result. I was really surprised by how little the private health insurance picks up. I have top end coverage and expected to be looked after better than that, but really I am pretty satisfied.

We are extremely lucky to have the public health care system that we do in Australia.

Medicare and private insurance

A couple of days ago I learnt a valuable time-saving lesson when it came to claiming rebates from Medicare and my private health insurance, Bupa.

I took my pile of receipts from the surgeon, hospital, anaesthetists, hospital pharmacist, surgeon assistant and physio into Bupa but unfortunately could only claim the physio invoice there. Because the cheeky buggers at the hospital pharmacy itemise every item (Meloxicam, Panadol, Endone, etc) and each individual medicine is under $36, the Bupa girl said I couldn't claim any as they don't fall under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Even though my total take-home medicine show bag came to $96. Cheeky bastards.

Anyway, the Bupa girl sent me up to Medicare with the remaining receipts where I queued for a little while then handed over my pile. I received a nice refund back from Medicare which was to be paid directly into my nominated account.

I expected to have to go back down to Bupa to have the refunds from my private insurance sorted out, but instead the Medicare lady gave me a "Two Way" form to fill out and assured me that they'd sort out my Bupa payments. Excellent!

A very nice surprise as long as they can pull it off! As Hannibal from the A-Team used to say, "I love it when a plan comes together."