Extra Options
General treatment cover or extra cover options take care of medical expenses related to medical conditions such as dental care, optical care, physiotherapy cover, ambulance cover, pharmaceutical cover, chiropractic cover, etc, which are offered either as separate package or sometimes included in the hospital cover plan. With each addition of these extra cover options, your premium will go higher, and therefore you need to carefully decide which extra options you want covered in your policy.
Dental - General
It is an extra cover that takes care of expenses related to some minor dental procedures, such as simple filling, simple extractions as well as certain preventive options such as sports mouthguard and fluoride application.
Dental - Major
Major dental procedures involve some complex processes such as rebuilding or restoring the entire dentition or periodontic treatment, crowns and bridges, facings, endodontics, surgical extraction of teeth, etc which require you to pay a higher premium if you include them in your extra cover.
Optical
Optical cover takes care of expenses related to routine eye check ups, some operative procedures like cataract and optical emergencies arising out of certain unforeseeable circumstances, such as an accident caused by some violent, external means.
Ambulance Cover
Taking an ambulance cover in your extra options makes it possible to easily claim the expenses on Ambulance services when you are lying at home in a critical condition or have suffered a major accident and need to shift to a hospital without any loss of time. This is sometimes included in the hospital cover also.
Pharmaceutical
Insurance companies generally extend this cover only on non-PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) prescriptions. No benefit is extended on PBS prescriptions that include items which are available over the counter.
Physiotherapy
There are a number of options under physiotherapy cover that is offered by health insurance companies to improve and rehabilitate movement disorders by using various natural methods, such as motivation, exercise and adapted equipments.
Chiropractic / Osteopathic
Chiropractic or osteopathic treatment is an alternative system of therapy that covers techniques used to relieve pains in joints and muscles, especially in spine or neck area, arising due to dislocation of nerves, which is cured by manipulation with hands or application of heat and ice.
Speech Therapy
The speech therapy cover takes care of expenses in connection with treatment of speech disorders among kids who have difficulty pronouncing certain phonetic sounds, have stuttering problems, resonance or voice disorders with the pitch and volume of voice.
Eye Therapy
Eye therapy cover refers to attempts to improve vision through identifying the root cause through self-directed vision improvement techniques or self-help eye exercises.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy refers to helping individuals of all age groups to improve their ability to perform their daily routine tasks effectively which they may be finding difficult to do because of some accident or injury to some vital organs or because of prolonged illness.
Clinical Psychology
People who take this in their extra cover are entitled for reimbursement, mostly partial in connection with treatment relating psychologically based distress or dysfunction through psychological assessment and psychotherapy. The treatment often requires the clinical psychologist to work in association with occupational therapist, psychiatrist or social worker to handle complex cases through a multi modal approach.
Podiatry
Under podiatry cover, treatment in connection with disorders related to foot, ankle and lower leg are covered. It is classified as allied health profession, which is practiced by individuals who have been granted licensed by the respective state board of Podiatry.
Alternative / Natural Therapies
Alternative therapies include a host of alternative treatment techniques to specific medical, conditions, such as acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, herbal medicine, massage, naturopathy, homeopathy, yoga, etc which are becoming increasingly popular among Australians and many insurance companies are including some of these in their extra cover plans.
Orthotics
It is an allied healthcare system, which is concerned with supporting or correcting musculoskeletal abnormalities or deformities of the human body. It also deals with providing relief to people with painful feet problems, especially among old persons who suffer because of extra stress on the feet, or among sports people who have to bear with a great deal of pressure on feet.