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We all value our health, but many Australians do not make the right financial decisions to protect their health or ensure they are financially covered when they are sick or injured. Positive Lending Solutions provides insurance options for these types of situations. Here, Positive Lending Solutions Director Tom Caesar gives us his top 5 list of financial health decisions all Australians need to consider.

1. Do You Have The Right Health Insurance?

More than 47% of Australians have health insurance for a number or reasons, ranging from reducing tax, to ensuring they are treated in a private hospital, to reducing the costs of treatment. For overseas visitors such as 457 visa holders, it is a visa requirement to have adequate health insurance.

Anyone who has health insurance should regularly re-evaluate their policy to ensure they understand:

• If they are covered for the treatments they are likely to actually need,
• What out-of-pocket expenses they may incur if they do become sick or injured,
• What additional benefits exists within their policy (such as discounted gym memberships)

The key is to be covered only for what you are actually likely to need, while ensuring you plan for future events such as having a baby.

2. Do You Have Income Protection?

While most Australians have an insurance policy to protect their house from damage, they are 45 times more likely to lose their house due to defaulted loan repayments (due to illness or injury) than in a fire. Most people do not account for periods when they may not be able to work and how it will impact their financial position.

Income protection can provide a ‘safety net’ for these periods, which is a great way to protect your assets through tough times.

Many Australians do not make the right financial decisions to protect their health or ensure they are financially covered when they are sick or injured

3. Do You Have Life Insurance?

Similar to income protection, Australians rarely consider the financial impact of unexpected events. In the case of your or your partner’s death, or being diagnosed with a terminal illness, it may become impossible to make ends meet.

Life insurance can cost as little as $5 per week, so it is an affordable way to achieve peace of mind. There is also Total and Permanent Disability Insurance to consider.

4. Are you up to date with immunisations?

Immunisations are relatively cheap compared to the cost consequences of being sick. A yearly flu immunisation (costing about $30) will protect you against the illness, and save you the days of work you are likely to miss with a nasty bout of the flu. Prevention is always better than cure, so make sure you regularly discuss this with your doctor, especially before each winter or when travelling overseas.

5. Are you up to date with health tests?

For many illnesses or diseases, early detection is key. There are many tests that you should regularly schedule (especially if there is a history of certain diseases in your family), such as mammograms and prostate checks. The differences between early detection and discovering issues later may mean less medical expenses, less time off work, and a faster, healthier recovery.

This post was written with the assistance of Positive Lending Solutions