There is a terrific article on page 20 of "The Age" (Melbourne) today from Professor Brian Owler, President of the AMA which includes many of the reasons I had thought of as to why the medical co-payment proposed in the Federal Budget is a bad idea if we are advocating for our patients.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/medical-copayment-belongs-on-scrap-heap-20140618-zsbb3.html
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Bouquets and Brickbats: When is "travel insurance" not travel insurance?
Caveat emptor - beware of travel insurance which is underwritten by Allianz. This includes CHI and Aussietravelcover.
My iPod Touch was stolen during a trip on 'The Ghan'. Not only did Allianz first try to deny liability (alleging that the iPod had been "left behind" (no cover if you leave anything behind anywhere during your travels) but then after getting a supporting letter from the Terminal Manager they agreed to pay, but only wanted to pay a pittance for an iPod that was in 'as new' condition (applying a savage level of depreciation). As this would not come anywhere near the replacement cost for the iPod I argued with them, and they increased it a bit, but still nowhere near enough to buy a new one. At this point I was exhausted and gave up and had to settle for a second-hand one with a tiny bit of marginal screen damage (sourced through EB Games https://ebgames.com.au/).
As a result I would never ever insure anything with Allianz. Never, ever!
This is also a lesson for people purchasing travel insurance to read the terms and conditions carefully to make sure you are covered for accidental loss. To my mind, so-called travel insurance that does not cover you for accidental loss or leaving things behind is not travel insurance at all and does not deserve your business. Also, if you have an expensive piece of technology in good condition, you will want replacement value, not just their arbitrary depreciated value.
For terrific value and more generous terms and conditions try this one instead provided by ACE Insurance (and available in three levels of cover):
https://fairfax.aceinsurance.com.au/FairfaxAU/TA
(The medium level of cover is also available through www.seniors.com.au/age with a 10% discount for an online quote, but it is cheaper through the Fairfax website.)
My iPod Touch was stolen during a trip on 'The Ghan'. Not only did Allianz first try to deny liability (alleging that the iPod had been "left behind" (no cover if you leave anything behind anywhere during your travels) but then after getting a supporting letter from the Terminal Manager they agreed to pay, but only wanted to pay a pittance for an iPod that was in 'as new' condition (applying a savage level of depreciation). As this would not come anywhere near the replacement cost for the iPod I argued with them, and they increased it a bit, but still nowhere near enough to buy a new one. At this point I was exhausted and gave up and had to settle for a second-hand one with a tiny bit of marginal screen damage (sourced through EB Games https://ebgames.com.au/).
As a result I would never ever insure anything with Allianz. Never, ever!
This is also a lesson for people purchasing travel insurance to read the terms and conditions carefully to make sure you are covered for accidental loss. To my mind, so-called travel insurance that does not cover you for accidental loss or leaving things behind is not travel insurance at all and does not deserve your business. Also, if you have an expensive piece of technology in good condition, you will want replacement value, not just their arbitrary depreciated value.
For terrific value and more generous terms and conditions try this one instead provided by ACE Insurance (and available in three levels of cover):
https://fairfax.aceinsurance.com.au/FairfaxAU/TA
(The medium level of cover is also available through www.seniors.com.au/age with a 10% discount for an online quote, but it is cheaper through the Fairfax website.)
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