HBF Health Insurance

gumby said:

Driving to the Midvale Speeddome to watch track cycling for the first
time I saw a billboard for HBF Insurance, heading east oppoite
Guildford Grammar.

It shows the rear wheel of a MTB with the rider supposedly disappearing
into the scrub, and the tag line of "Are you with HBF?"

First reaction was "fscking [censored], more people come to grief and
drawdown health insurance funds from car accidents than the odd MTB
accident"

Then I thought a little more about the ad, surely it is discouraging
people from riding bikes if the images of bikes and cycling in general
they see and interpret emphasise the potential for injury rather than
the physical and psychological benefits of the activity? Maybe I'm not
the target market for HBF Insurance, and with ads like these I'm not
going to be.

Quite a different approach to Medibank Private, ref to other post.

Oh and the track cycling was bloody good to watch, my wife saw the
advert, free entry to the event, and I NEED a track bike now.
Steven

Well considering I'm sitting here with my arm in plaster I don't think having a cyclist on the ad is such a bad idea.. One definite benefit of having private health cover is that your ambulance costs are covered.. I got a bill from the ambo's last week for $900 but luckily it should be covered under our health insurance..

dgarry said:

Well considering I'm sitting here with my arm in plaster I don't think having a cyclist on the ad is such a bad idea.. One definite benefit of having private health cover is that your ambulance costs are covered.. I got a bill from the ambo's last week for $900 but luckily it should be covered under our health insurance..

Don't most insurance providers only reimburse the *membership* costs of joining the Ambulance association? You don't need health insurance to join the ambos.

I hope the arm is healing well... what happened?

ali

alison_b said:

Don't most insurance providers only reimburse the *membership* costs of joining the Ambulance association? You don't need health insurance to join the ambos.

I hope the arm is healing well... what happened?

ali

Well we rang our private health cover proider last week and they said that the ambulance trip would be covered as it was deemed an emergency.. They said that if I got to the hospital and then decided to transfer to another hospital by ambulance that trip wouldn't be covered..
I ended up getting caught up in the big North Road bunch crash two weeks ago.. A couple of riders went down at the front of the bunch and it ended up with about 20 people going down.. I was towards the back of the bunch and started braking but a guy on wally bars ended up running into me and I ended up landing directly on my elbow.. I broke it in 3 places and had to get it wired back together.. It's a bit frustrating as there's been great riding weather recently..

alison_b said:

Don't most insurance providers only reimburse the *membership* costs of
joining the Ambulance association? You don't need health insurance to
join the ambos.

Not any more, they don't. I was mildly annoyed about this: I bought a
five year membership to the ambos back in '98 or '99, and the following
year, Australian Unity discontinued the rebate (which didn't cover all
the cost, but did cover some of it).

When it comes time for renewal, I'll be paying it; I figure that the
ambo service is well worth supporting, even if it means I'm covered
twice over. Besides, the health insurance policy doesn't cover *all*
travel by ambulance.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

dgarry said:

Well we rang our private health cover proider last week and they said that the ambulance trip would be covered as it was deemed an emergency.. They said that if I got to the hospital and then decided to transfer to another hospital by ambulance that trip wouldn't be covered..
I ended up getting caught up in the big North Road bunch crash two weeks ago.. A couple of riders went down at the front of the bunch and it ended up with about 20 people going down.. I was towards the back of the bunch and started braking but a guy on wally bars ended up running into me and I ended up landing directly on my elbow.. I broke it in 3 places and had to get it wired back together.. It's a bit frustrating as there's been great riding weather recently..

I'm glad to hear it is covered! The last thing anybody would need is an ambo bill... It's bad enough to need the ambo 🙁

I hope you're not off the bike for too long and the elbow will be as good as new.

Ali

Thats crappy news about your arm, here's to a quick recovery.
Steven

On 2005-11-07, dgarry (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

gumby said:

Oh and the track cycling was bloody good to watch, my wife saw the
advert, free entry to the event, and I NEED a track bike now.
Steven

Well considering I'm sitting here with my arm in plaster I don't think
having a cyclist on the ad is such a bad idea.. One definite benefit of
having private health cover is that your ambulance costs are covered.. I
got a bill from the ambo's last week for $900 but luckily it should be
covered under our health insurance..

Yeah, but why pay $many-thousand for private health insurance, when
you can pay $50 for Ambulance $insert-state-here membership? All
cyclists should have it. Particularly if you go touring. Getting
stuck out on in the middle of nowhere, and being picked up by a
helicopter at a cost of $5000 to you would not be nice!

Also -- make sure you get hit by a car -- the ambulance cover (and
health care) get covered by TAC (even if you are Ambulance Victoria
member) when a motor vehicle is involved. Glad I don't have to pay
that $2000 🙂

--
TimC
When some other esteemed editor reposts this, it'll be the Periodic
Periodic Table Table story, and I will be even happier. ;^)
-- Emil Brink on /., about the periodic table table.

TimC said:

Yeah, but why pay $many-thousand for private health insurance, when
you can pay $50 for Ambulance $insert-state-here membership?

In my case? Because with the Medicare surcharge, it's cheaper for me to
have health insurance than not. I barely use the damn thing, but the
gubmint has decreed that Thou Shalt Have Private Insurance via various
carrots and sticks, so ...

I still believe that the fifty odd bucks for ambulance membership is
money well spent, regardless of the fact that I'm covered in other ways.
I strongly believe in supporting basic vital services.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>> "dgarry" == dgarry <[email hidden]> writes:

dgarry> Well considering I'm sitting here with my arm in plaster I
dgarry> don't think having a cyclist on the ad is such a bad
dgarry> idea.. One definite benefit of having private health cover
dgarry> is that your ambulance costs are covered.. I got a bill from
dgarry> the ambo's last week for $900 but luckily it should be
dgarry> covered under our health insurance..

Definite benefit? You sure about that?

Define emergency.

Is a broken arm life threatening? No. So is it an emergency? Again
no. That may sound unreasonable but it's insurance companies we're
talking about. Hopefully you've got a decent health insurance company
and you won't have a problem but believe me it's happened in
circumstances such as yours.

The Metropolitan Ambulance Service[1] derives over 70% of its revenue from
membership fees. Fifty dollars for a cast iron guarantee that you will
not incur any ambulance fees AND the knowledge that you are contributing
to an essential service is an absolute bargain IMO. If you're earning
enough to warrant taking out private health insurance you can afford
ambulance membership.

[1] ESTA employee who works closely with Emergency Service Operators.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

Euan said:

>>>>> "dgarry" == dgarry <[email hidden]> writes:

dgarry> Well considering I'm sitting here with my arm in plaster I
dgarry> don't think having a cyclist on the ad is such a bad
dgarry> idea.. One definite benefit of having private health cover
dgarry> is that your ambulance costs are covered.. I got a bill from
dgarry> the ambo's last week for $900 but luckily it should be
dgarry> covered under our health insurance..

Definite benefit? You sure about that?

Define emergency.

Is a broken arm life threatening? No. So is it an emergency? Again
no. That may sound unreasonable but it's insurance companies we're
talking about. Hopefully you've got a decent health insurance company
and you won't have a problem but believe me it's happened in
circumstances such as yours.

The Metropolitan Ambulance Service[1] derives over 70% of its revenue from
membership fees. Fifty dollars for a cast iron guarantee that you will
not incur any ambulance fees AND the knowledge that you are contributing
to an essential service is an absolute bargain IMO. If you're earning
enough to warrant taking out private health insurance you can afford
ambulance membership.

[1] ESTA employee who works closely with Emergency Service Operators.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

Warning - semantics ahead*.:p

the term "emergency" may be used differently in the hospital/medical field. The term "Emergency" is the opposite of "Elective". "Emergency" means not planned. "Elective" means planned. "Elective" does not mean optional such as [censored] job for non-clinical reasons.

Insurance companies have another set of meanings, as does the media.

*I deal with legal issues in the health system

SteveA