WHAT SHOULD MY KIDS BE COVERED FOR?
Once you get on a family plan, your children can be added to your plan at no extra cost. The children (and all family members included in the plan) will have access to the treatments and services covered through the plan. This presents a unique challenge as you plan current and future needs to cover the needs of everyone in your family.
The coverage for your kids would depend on a few factors. First, your family medical history and genetics could make them more prone to certain types of illnesses or in need of particular hospital or clinical treatments. Second, it depends on the lifestyle of your family. If you are active and play sports, then they could be prone to injuries or may need physiotherapy. Lastly, there are certain conditions or eventualities that impact many children that you may want to make sure they are covered for. Since there are waiting periods for most conditions, you’d want to add more serious treatments and eventualities as early as possible in case they need to access the benefits urgently.
Knowing your family history could guide you in determining the extent of coverage needed. For instance, epilepsy often runs in the family. In this case, you’d want to include the hospital treatments for the brain & nervous system in your family plan. Genetic conditions could include eczema, epilepsy, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.
Kids have developing immune systems and thus may experience digestive disorders or get easily sick from certain viruses. Digestive systems could be a condition covered by a hospital cover and you can use extras covers to access preventative care such as vaccinations. If obesity or diabetes is in your family history, you should include dietary management and diabetes management.
If your kids are active and/or play sports, you’d want stronger accident or injury coverage. Procedures such as dental surgery, back/spine/neck treatments, and podiatric surgery could be considered.
Most common child injuries in Australia are falls, road accidents, poisoning, and burns and scalds. Making sure that the insurance covers accidents and injuries would be a good start. You may also want to include dental surgery or back/spine/neck or podiatric surgery. Since children are accident-prone, including emergency ambulance services in your covers would give you some peace of mind.
All injuries, illnesses, and treatments which would likely require doctors’ visits or medical procedures should be carefully considered to choose your hospital cover. For preventive care and likely future needs such as dental and optical (prescription glasses), you have to look into extras covers. Combining hospital and extras covers will give your family the widest breadth of coverage. Use our comparison search engine to see what different plans could offer your family!
