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Review by our insurance writer Gary Hunter
RT Health Fund provides five hospital cover options that offer an increasing range of benefits and an increasing premium cost for the higher level of cover: Basic Public Hospital, Bronze Plus First Start Hospital, Bronze Plus Step Up Hospital, Silver Plus Smart Hospital No Pregnancy and Gold Premium Hospital. These can be purchased as standalone cover or you can choose to mix and match them with one of the three extras cover options: Value Extras, Smart Extras and Premium Extras.
If you’re weighing up whether or not you need health insurance cover, all you need to do is take the Australian Government’s Lifetime Health Cover Scheme into account. Under the scheme, you’ll be charged a premium loading for every year after you turn 31 that you do not have some form of private health cover in place. In other words, the sooner you take out cover the cheaper it will be.
With this in mind, you’ll have to decide on the right cover option for you – and the right cover can differ greatly from one person to the next. For example, someone in their mid 50s with a history of health problems is going to need very different cover to a young, fit and healthy applicant. Consider what you need cover for and how much you want to spend before you choose a fund.
There are three levels of extras cover, that can be purchased alongside hospital or as standalone products.
Your RT Health Fund claim will not be paid if:
Current and former members of Railways Credit Union Limited can also join, while you can also join if you are related to an eligible person. This means you must be their parent, sibling, brother- or sister-in-law, partner or former partner, child, grandchild, son- or daughter-in-law, or niece or nephew.
Depending on the level of hospital cover you take out, you may be required to pay an excess when you are admitted to hospital. The excess is the amount you pay to contribute to your hospital costs and allows you to enjoy lower premiums. Under Gold Hospital, you can choose to pay an optional excess or no excess at all. Both Silver Hospital and Bronze Hospital policies come with an excess that you'll need to pay when you're admitted to hospital, and the amount you have to pay will be detailed in your policy schedule.
If you receive treatment in a private hospital, in most cases the hospital’s bills will be sent directly to your health fund. However, you may receive bills from the different doctors who treat you, and you’ll need to take them to a Medicare office and fill out a two-way claim form. Medicare will then forward your claim on to RT Health Fund to cover the 25% gap that Medicare does not pay.
When you need to make an extras claim, many providers will offer on-the-spot electronic claiming that simply requires you to swipe your membership card. Where this option is not available you will have to download a claim form from the RT Health website, fill it out and submit it to the health fund.
You can also submit a claim via the RT health insurance app. You can download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play Store.
If you’re eligible to become a member of RT Health Fund, consider the benefits and features it offers when choosing private health cover. Comparing the products offered by a range of funds is the best* way to ensure that you get the cover you need for you and your family.
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