the right health insurance policy if you’re single

It can be much easier to choose the right health insurance policy if you’re single, as there’s only your own needs to think about. Many single people who are in good health assume that they can get away without private health insurance, but this can be costly if an accident or illness means that you need medical treatment.





Taking out hospital cover is recommended in case you need medical treatment. As a private patient, you can choose to be treated in a private hospital and don’t have to wait for a public hospital bed to become free. You can also have much greater control over the doctor who treats you and when your treatment takes place.

Beyond this, you’ll get the most out of your health insurance if you choose extras that suit your circumstances. For example, you probably won’t have any use for pregnancy-related services if you’re a happily single female and actively avoiding falling pregnant. Likewise, young single individuals won’t see the need for extras aimed at older people, such as joint replacements and cataracts cover. You can lower your premiums by some margin depending on what you’re choosing to drop.
Lifetime Health Cover (LHC)

If you’re under 31, now is the time to take out private hospital cover. Through the LHC initiative, you can lock in the cheapest premiums for life if you take out private hospital cover before the 1st of July following your 31st birthday. After that, you’re subject to a 2 per cent loading fee on top of your premiums for every year that you delayed beyond you were thirty, so it’s in your interests to take it out as soon as possible to minimise your loading fees or to avoid them altogether. If you look to take out couples cover further down the line, your loading fees are factored in with your partner’s, so if you have low loading or none at all, your combined loading fees would be more manageable.
Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS)

If you have an income of over $80,000 in the 2011-12 financial year (up from $77,000 for the 2010-11 financial year) and haven’t got private hospital cover with a registered health fund, you’ll be obliged to pay an additional tax in the form of a Medicare Levy Surcharge. The threshold for single individuals changes to $80,000 for the 2011-12 financial year, so you can earn up to this and still avoid the MLS. Private health insurance is definitely something that you should be looking into if you don’t already have it – not just for avoiding the extra tax!

Many single people don’t feel they need private health insurance, especially if they’re generally fit and healthy, but this can be a mistake. If you find yourself ill or injured and needing medical treatment, with only your own income to rely on, could you afford to meet the often eye-watering bills associated with shortfalls that Medicare alone doesn’t cover?

There are also other financial reasons to arrange private health insurance (especially private hospital cover) while you’re still young as both Lifetime Health Cover and the Medicare Levy Surcharge are intended to encourage you to sign up with a health fund rather than rely soley on the public healthcare syste

You need to exhaust your PIP benefits before your health insurance kicks in

If you’re involved in a motor vehicle accident, it’s important to understand the relationship between your PIP (personal injury protection) and health insurance.


PIP is your primary coverage as it pays 100 cents on the dollar for your health care – health insurance does not. You need to exhaust your PIP benefits before your health insurance kicks in. Once your PIP runs out, provide your health insurance carrier with an “exhaustion letter.” This basically explains that there is no more PIP coverage left and your health insurance needs to start covering your medical bills.

The process of dealing with PIP vs. health insurance carriers is daunting – especially in the aftermath of an accident that caused you injury. But following these steps will save you a lot of headache down the road:

1. Immediately following the accident, provide your PIP information to your health care providers.

2. Every few weeks, request a copy of the PIP ledger from your auto carrier to see how much PIP coverage you have left.

3. Once you are approaching your PIP limits, provide your health care providers with your PIP ledgers so they can start billing your health insurance carrier.

Arranging health insurance as a couple can be a challenging proposition

Arranging health insurance as a couple can be a challenging proposition as there are two sets of needs being taken into consideration when deciding how extensive your coverage should be. Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking about taking health insurance as a couple.




There is less hassle involved in comparison to taking out two separate singles policies. You’ve only got the one policy to manage with one set of premiums and if a claim needs to be made, you only need to do this on the one policy. Because these type of policies are aimed directly at couples, you can make savings in comparison to both having policies that lean more towards individuals.

Lifetime Health Cover

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) allows you to lock in base rate premiums if you take out private hospital cover before July 1st following your 31st birthday (otherwise known as your base date). If you take out private hospital cover after this, loading fees of 2 per cent are added onto your premiums. As a couple, the situation can be complicated if both partners have different LHC loadings:

If only one partner has had continuous hospital cover since their base date (and the other has LHC loading)

Your combined premiums will work out as an average between the base rate premium and the LHC loading. For example, if one of you has no LHC loading but one of you has a LHC loading of 4 per cent, your premiums as a couple will average out at 2 per cent.

If both partners have LHC loadings

If you’ve both got LHC loadings, your premiums are the average of the two loadings. For example, if you have a loading of 4 per cent while your partner has a loading of 6 per cent, your combined loading will be 5 per cent.

If you’ve both taken out private hospital cover before your base date, you can often still switch to couples insurance without compromising your base rate premiums.
The Medical Levy Surcharge & The Rebate

Most Australian taxpayers pay a 1.5 per cent Medicare levy but if you’re a higher earner who hasn’t arranged hospital cover with a registered health fund , you’re also subject to an additional Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). The income threshold for the 2010/11 financial year was $154,000 for couples or families and will change to $160,000 for the 2011/12 financial year. The surcharge was previously set at 1 per cent but in line with plans to means-test both the MLS and the health insurance rebate from July 2011, both will operate on a sliding scale.

For couples/ families who have a joint income of below $150,000, the 30 per cent rebate should be unaffected (35 per cent for those aged 65-69 and 40 per cent if you’re over 70) and you won’t pay an MLS charge.
For couples/families who earn between $150,001 and $180,000, the rebate decreases to 20 per cent (25 per cent for those aged between 65 and 69 and 30 per cent for those over 70) and the MLS charge is 1 per cent.
For couples/families who earn between $180,001 and $240,000, the rebate decreases to 10 per cent (15 per cent for those aged between 65 and 69 and 20 per cent for those over 70) and the MLS charge is 1.25 per cent.
For couples/families who earn over $240,000, no rebate will be on offer and the MLS charge is 1.5 per cent.

If the proposed changes to the MLS make you think twice about taking out hospital cover or keeping your existing cover, think about the potential downsides if you do drop your hospital cover. Private health insurance has several key benefits that you may well miss if you ditch it. It’s much more extensive than Medicare benefits alone, has shorter waiting times attached and doesn’t require you to wait around for a bed to become available in a public hospital.
If You’re Planning a Family

Bear in mind that most health funds impose a 12-month waiting period before you can access the benefits so it’s no good waiting until you’re pregnant before you look for appropriate coverage. If you start your search some time before you think you’ll need the cover, there’s a good chance that you’ll have already served out your waiting period and will be able to access the full benefits.

It may be better to switch to family cover after a first pregnancy is confirmed so that the baby is covered after the birth. For some health funds, you may need to have been paying premiums for family cover for several months prior to the birth to ensure that this will definitely be the case but check with your health fund to confirm their position.

If you’re planning to start a family in the not-so-distant future, there may be other things to take into consideration when choosing your health insurance policy.

If you’re a cohabiting couple, it can be cheaper to arrange couples insurance that features both of you on the same policy. For hospital cover, Lifetime Health Cover loadings can complicate how much you’ll pay if you’ve waited beyond your base date to take it out. If you’ve yet to take out hospital cover at all, the Medical Levy Surcharge is intended as a big incentive for couples in the higher earning brackets as it enables you to avoid the additional tax.

Step in Chanel

image via thisisglamourous 

My mum had a custom made Hello Kitty marble tiles in her previous house and I thought that was silly. Not being a Hello Kitty fan myself, especially have it on my floor but I still think it's cute for girls under the age of 10.

May strongly disagreed by my mum and her crazy Kitty fans friends. haha...

I'd love to have Chanel tiles in my bathroom with No.5, Coco Mademoiselle, No.28 and all other Chanel perfume bottles display on shelves.

How great would that be!

Hidden Beauty

Town and Country
image via Olivia Graham 

Princess in Castle

Chateau Mcely Luxury Hotel

Address: Mcely 61, 289 36 Mcely
The Czech Republic

Tel: +420 325 600 000

Reviews from Tripadvisor

Images via ladylike

Love You More Each Day

 Pita Pata ~ Westie ~ 7 years old

Moshi Moshi ~ Toy Poodle ~ 6 years old

Taste of Sydney II

Crispy Pork Belly, Cashew Nut Caramel, Watermelon & Mint $12 from Assiette & District Dining

Oysters with Vietnamese dressing, crispy shallots & coriander $10 from Assiette & District Dining

At the chef's Table was Alex Herbert from Bird Cow Fish. The dish she cooked was the Boned and rolled roasted chicken stuffed with mushroom duxelle; pommes puree. We tried the dish earlier, it was brilliant. Quite complicated dish and I can't image how she managed to prepare so many of them for the four days even. Love her food and I will definitely go to her restaurant when next time we visit Sydney.

 

At the Taste Kitchen that afternoon featured Penny Williams, Executive Chef, Bali Asli. While she's going to open up her own restaurant in Bali, that's a bit far away. However, she cooked a fresh and beautiful satay chicken that day and the sauce was amazing!

Black pepper and curry leaf prawn skewers with lime and fresh coconut $10 from Flying Fish

Mussels steamed with chilli, white wine, tomato and parsley $10 from A Tavola / Omerta

Taste of Sydney 2011

Part II

Four hours were definitely not enough to try all the fantastic dishes available but certainly a great food experience to taste some of Sydney's most incredible restaurants in one afternoon. Now I can't wait to go to Taste of Melbourne later of the year!

Pample Mousse Design

Pample Mousse Design