The Australian government encourages people to subscribe
to private insurance policies. They
are tax rebatable. Check very carefully what
benefits are gained as sometimes being on the normal
regime can be good enough (depending on your state of
health).
There are two main types of private health insurance
cover available - hospital cover and ancillary cover.
Ancillary cover provides benefits for services such
as physiotherapy and dental and optical treatment.
Under Medicare you can be treated as a public patient
in a public hospital at no charge by a doctor appointed
by the hospital. When you have private health insurance
(hospital cover) this gives you cover (often called
fund benefits) towards the cost of treatment as a private
patient in a public or private hospital.
For more information go to:
http://www.health.gov.au/pubs/circfinl/hot/facts.htm