What Are The Key Strengths Of Medibank’s 457 Health Insurance?
1) Private Hospital Cover
Medibank’s working visa hospital insurance includes private hospital cover and public hospital accommodation as a private patient.
It should be noted that the benefits will be lower if you are admitted to a private hospital that does not have an agreement with Medibank. Also, you are not guaranteed to have a private room when admitted to hospital and may need to share with up to five other patients.
2) Mi Health Support Services
A unique service Medibank offers 457 visa health insurance policy holders is access to Mi Health. This is a range of health support services including a 24/7 nurse, tools, a mobile health app and online health information.
3) Medical Repatriation Cover
Medibank has no limit on its medical repatriation cover. This means that when its medically necessary to repatriate an individual back to their home country their is no limit unlike most other 457 health insurance polices.
Disadvantages Of Medibank’s 457 Health Insurance?
1) Price
Medibank has the most expensive budget policy in Australia with their working visa hospital insurance starting at $125.60
The not for profit Australian health funds all have lower prices for 457 visa health insurance including Frank at $75 and HIF at $88.42. Obviously, this 64% price premium is very high considering the lack of variability in benefits.
2) Excess
There is a $300 hospital excess on Medibank’s cover. This is the amount an individual must contribute towards hospital charges when admitted.
This amount is per member, per calendar year and excludes children. As the graph above highlights, there are several companies such as HIF and IMAN that charge no excess and may be worth considering if your concerned about this expense.
3) Lack Of Policy Flexibility
Unlike health funds like HIF there is no option to combine hospitals & extras. Extra’s are those elements you are more likely to claim on frequently such as dental (seeing a dentist) or optical. As the costs of these visits can be expensive the fact that you are unable to add this cover may make it unsuitable for some 457 visa health insurance applicants.
4) Poor Reviews
Medibank has one of the lowest reviews of any Australian health fund (only BUPA has worse).
As the product review widget below highlights, there are a range of issues current and past policy holders have with Medibank ranging from customer service to getting claims paid.
I have personally been with Medibank when I was younger for over 10 years and was happy with the Australian health fund but their premiums kept on increasing which led me to change health funds. I didn’t have an issue with Medibank but it was tricky making sure that I knew all the local Medibank agreement hospitals and providers if I became sick or injured (otherwise the out-of-pocket expenses were too high).
Overall, the reason I left Medibank was because they were just too expensive and the same exists with Medibank 457 visa health insurance. All there price points are too high compared to their competitors. This may be related to the fact that they are government owned which mean they are taking on more old applicants and individuals with pre-existing conditions which are leading to higher claims.