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What is Private Health Insurance?
Private health insurance is there to help you cover the costs of services not covered under Medicare such as hospital, extras and ambulance cover. In Australia, you have the choice to decide if private health insurance is right for you and if you wish to have comprehensive cover for you and your family.
What are extras?
Extras are services and treatments such as:
- Dental
- Optical
- Chiropractic
- Physiotherapy
- Remedial Massage
- and many more...
Who is covered?
It is important you choose the cover that is right for you. There are a range of policies to suit what your requirements are: single, couple or families and single parent families.
Getting to know your dental cover
Dentistry on Unley recommends you get to know your private health insurer and the level of cover you are on for Dental treatment. There are low and high levels of cover and the loss of services you are insured for may vary. Dental cover is divided into General Dental and Major Dental and both categories have separate limits.
General Dental
The term General Dental refers to routine treatments such as examinations, hygiene cleans, restorations, extractions, radiographs and mouth guards.
Major Dental
The term Major Dental refers to more complex treatments such as surgical removal of wisdom teeth, orthodontics, dentures, CEREC restorations, crown and bridge and implants.
Why are we NOT a Preferred Provider?
At Dentistry on Unley, we welcome any health fund and do not limit our practice to only servicing patients from one or two preferred provider funds. We strongly believe that joining a preferred provider health insurer is not in the best interest of our patients. Rather you should have the freedom to choose a practice and a dentist that is right for you!
Private Health Insurance
The way private health insurers treat people using dental and allied health services is not fair. You know it, We know it... and the Australian Dental Association is working to change it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Why is it important that i can choose the dentist who will provide my care?
A. You need to be comfortable in talking and being treated by your dentist of your choice. You need to be comfortable in the fact that your dentist is recommending the best treatment for you. Continuity of care is very important to dental care delivery. Your dental health care will be more effective if you maintain your relationship with your dentist, rather than having your choice of dentist dictated by your health fun.
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Q2. How are health funds influencing my right to choose my dentist of choice?
A. Health funds have openly and aggressively campaigned to get dentists to “sign up” to their contracted provider arrangements. Health funds are openly promoting to patients that they should see a health fund contracted dentist. Some health funds are offering a higher dental rebate for each item of service if the procedure is performed by a contracted dentist. Some funds have even brought their own dental surgeries and employ their own dentists.
Q3. Why isn’t my dentist a “preferred practitioner”?
A. The “preferred practitioners” are not actually preferred because of dental ability but because they meet the fee criteria set by the health funds and have agreed to be contractually bound to the health fund.
Q 4. My health fund says my dentist is too expensive and my gap will be too high and says I should see a contracted dentist. What should I do?
A. ADA National fee surveys show that dentists’ fees over the 15 year period from 2000-2014 have increased on average by less than 4% annually. • You should ask what your health fund average premium increases have been over the same period. • The Federal Government has been subsidising health fund premiums by 30%. Whilst this has recently been reviewed there is still substantial subsidy on offer. • You should ask how much your health fund’s dental rebates have gone up over the same period. • The lack of increased dental rebates explains the increasing gap between fee and rebate. This has not been caused by your dentist
Q5. If the health funds do not permit the dentists who are contracted to them to increase their fees in line with practice cost increases, is there a risk that the quality of dental care may suffer?
A. The ADA believes this may cause “tiered’ levels of care. Preferred contracted provider schemes have not been successful anywhere else in the world. If you pay the full premium you deserve the best care and the same rebate as any other contributor regardless of which dentist you choose to see.
The information provided here has been sourced from the ADA. Please view these online resources for more information:
Rebates and Gap Payments - Choosing private health Insurance Essentials - ADA
Private Health Cover, it's Your Choice - ADA
Still not sure? call us on: +61 8 8272 9087
Quality care for every individual
Quality care for every individual
At Dentistry on Unley we offer an advanced standard of dental care, using the most current philosophies and proven techniques. Our practitioners personalise dental care to your individual requirements, not only caring for your teeth and gums, but also caring about your general health and wellbeing.
