Melbourne

It is expensive, but don't forget to take into account the cost of the Medicare levy surcharge you pay in tax if you don't have it - depending on income it can cost you more not to have it, or at least take a large chunk of what you save. It's also worth considering the future - if you anticipate increased salary in the future that might put you into the category where you will need to pay the surcharge you may be better off paying a bit more now to avoid the age surcharge when you get to that point. Once you get older the insurance is also better value as you have more medical problems, so you need to try to balance the benefits of saving money now compared to the amount it will cost you in the future if you delay getting it and decide you need it later.

When thinking about the value of the hospital component of the insurance it's worth keeping in mind that whilst Medicare will cover you for life-threatening issues it is not great for things that just reduce the quality of life, and you can be forced to wait until problems become life threatening before they are dealt with. I have a friend who currently needs a hip replacement. The waiting list for public hospital is so long she has signed up for private insurance to pay for it once the one year waiting period is up as that will be quicker. In the meantime she has trouble walking and is in constant pain to the extent that she sometimes has to take time off work. Google tells me the cost of a hip replacement privately is around $25k - that's a lot of years of insurance premiums you need to save, and many surgeries can be even more expensive.

Extras are often not worth the cost unless you use a lot of things like physio on an ongoing basis. I've bought a full pair of multi-focal glasses, had a dental checkup and clean plus four fillings this year and have still not received enough back in rebates to cover a year's premiums. A lot of the big items for extras like dental implants are not urgent and you can sign up and get the work done once the waiting period is over.