Medibank Claim: Fill & Download for Free

This question does not quite make sense.In Australia our Medicare system is run by the Federal Government for all humans living here. It is funded from central revenue obtained by taxation of both individuals and businesses.In addition, we have a number of Australia-wide insurance companies, including one called Medibank which used to be owned by the government but was partly privatised a while ago.Generally people join up to one of the insurance companies. There are two benefits:[1] If you do not join a private fund, the government charges you a certain extra tax, which increases with your age.[2] If you have medical insurance you can basically jump the queue to get faster service, private rooms in hospital, dental services, and coverage for “gaps” in what medicos charge for their services in addition to Medicare “bulk billing”.For example, I recently had open-heart surgery and paid $500 to the surgeon, $500 to the anaesthetist, and $500 to the “perfusionist” (who keeps the heart and blood flow working) compared to the $20,000 or so that was paid by Medicare.But I paid nothing extra for the two private hospitals and single-bed rooms that I stayed in for a couple of weeks, and rehabilitation, that were covered by Medibank.So: It does not matter which private insurance fund you join, and none of them is allowed to penalise you for pre-existing conditions unknown at the time.However, if you had been diagnosed with diabetes there might be a waiting period of, say, six months before you could claim for treatment

I’m pretty sure I’m legally prohibited from telling you how to vote. That said, it’s good that you’re asking, because it means you’re thinking about it, which is more than many people do.My advice to you is to think critically about it. That is to say, don’t simply accept what is said by either the politicians or the media, but consider what is being said in the context of what this might mean to you, and whether they are being honest.Firstly, remember that we have a bi-cameral system, meaning two houses. The lower house, the House of Representatives, is the house that constitutes the Government. The party or coalition of parties that can get support from the majority of seats in that house becomes the Government. The population of each seat can elect one member to the lower house.In practice, that means that independents and minor parties very rarely win lower house seats, except in unusual situations such as inner Melbourne (where the Greens can win) or Shepparton (currently held by an independent). You can still cast your first vote for a minor party or an independent, but remember that it will be your preferences that then decide where your vote goes.So, say you’re annoyed with Labor for not doing enough about the environment, and you can’t stand the Liberals for actively attacking the environment, so you vote Greens as your first preference, but you’re in a seat where the Greens only get 8% of the first preference vote. In a fit of pique, you’ve put Labor last, thinking “that’ll show them!” In effect, you’ve voted for the Liberals, even though you’d prefer to vote Labor if it came to it.So think carefully about your preferences, especially if you choose to vote for a minor party or an independent.The upper house, the Senate, is a very different beast in terms of voting. For starters, instead of single-member seats, each state provides six senators and each territory provides two. Senators are voted for using a system of unholy complexity that involves voting on what looks like a banner full of minor parties, individuals, assorted lunatics and the occasional respectable politician. It looks like this only longer:Each column represents a political party, while the boxes below represent individual candidates. You can vote in two ways:Above the line - vote for at least six of the parties you’d like to support, numbered 1 to 6, potentially filling in the entire list above the line.Below the line - vote for individual candidates from at least 1 to 12, and potentially up to filling out the whole sheet.Unless you have a particular reason for supporting certain individual candidates, I recommend voting above the line, with preferences distributed to your favourite parties.That’s the mechanics. As for choosing who to vote for, that’s up to you, but if you want to get serious, here’s a few pointers:Have a look at the party websites and look at the policies they’re proposing.Try to ignore the individual promises, like funding for a sports ground or whatever - I tend to regard these as more or less bribes to the electorate. Check out their broader policies, things like what they’re going to do for the environment, education, the economy, supporting industries, whatever is close to your heart. Here’s the websites of the major parties:The Australian Labor Party: HomeThe Liberal Party of Australia: Liberal Party of AustraliaThe National Party of Australia (junior partner in coalition with the Liberals): Home - The NationalsThe Australian Greens: The Australian GreensThere’s a whole lot of other smaller parties - too many for here.Check out their previous performance on keeping their promises.For example, Tony Abbott promised no cuts to the ABC and SBS, and almost immediately proceeded to cut their funding once he had power. The ALP promised not to introduce a carbon tax, then introduced a carbon price that they called a tax in a moment of truly boneheaded public relations.See if you can work out who the backers of the parties are, and what they would like to do.For example, the Institute of Public Affairs is a Liberal Party think tank, although they claim to be independent. They have a list of seventy-five priorities which includes scrapping the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (which keeps your prescription medication affordable), privatising as many public services as possible, closing or privatising the ABC and SBS, and so on. The Liberal Party claim that they IPA doesn’t set their policy agenda, but many members of the Liberal Party have been or currently are members of the IPA, and various of their policies, including privatising Medibank and abolishing the Department of Climate Change, have already been enacted.I think they are a dishonest and utterly reprehensible pack of bastards, but have a look at what they have to say for themselves (and ignore the rhetoric about being like Gough Whitlam - Gough hated them and everything they stood for, plus they tell a lot of provable lies in that article): Be Like Gough: 75 Radical Ideas To Transform Australia. If you think those policies are good, you might prefer to vote Liberal.On the other side of the fence is the union movement and the Labor Party. The ALP makes no secret of the fact that it is the political party founded by the trade unions. However, not all unions are affiliated with the ALP, and even the affiliated unions don’t agree on everything (sometimes it’s lucky to get them to agree on anything at all!). Probably the most representative body in the union movement is the Australian Council of Trade Unions, ostensibly the voice of the union movement across Australia. The ACTU is a very influential body, and can give you a good idea of thinking behind the ALP that they might not be keen to put into election materials: Australian Council of Trade Unions ACTUUnion delegates make up 50% of the voting members at the Labor Party Conference, where policy platforms are decided. They have a big say, and can sometimes determine what is and isn’t considered at Conference, but they aren’t the full story. Have a look at the website and check out the draft national policy platform: 48th National Conference. Again, there is stuff here that you might not find in the publicised election material.I won’t go into the smaller parties, as that would take too long even by my standards.I’ll finish by reiterating - think critically! If a party makes a claim on something, check it out, see if it stacks up or if they’re spinning it out of proportion. If a party makes a promise, see how they’ve gone before on promises like that, or policies they’ve held in that area.Oh, and finally, ignore slogans. If it can fit into three words, it’s not worth the digital space it takes up.

I have followed Australian politics for over 50 years. I can not recall one thing that the Liberals, the Nationals or the Liberal Nationals have done specifically to benefit the working class. There have been a few things they have done to benefit the wealthy that have also benefited the working class but that was just coincidental.The Coalition parties have a long record of vigorously opposing anything that was intended to benefit the working class. They opposed and destroyed the original universal heath scheme (Medibank). The still try to limit the benefits of Medicare. They have always opposed the national superannuation scheme. They have never supported any wage claim made by the Union movement.