Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Program - Are you eligible?

I have  just come across this wonderful Government benefit whereby some patients may be able to receive dental services under Medicare.

Basically, if you have a chronic disease, such as asthma, cancer, diabetes or some other major illness, you may be able to claim up to $4250 over a two year period for major dental work.    To ascertain whether you are eligible, following is a link to the Department of Health and Aging.   You will also need a referral form your General Practitioner.

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/fact%20sheet_dental-patients

Alternatively, you can ring Medicare on 132 011.

Cheers

Josie Kay

ps. It is rumoured that the Labour Party was to axe this benefit, so don’t leave it for too long to find out if you qualify.

Save big $$$ on hire car excess insurance - Money Tip without the Boring Stuff

A big thank you to Mick for this one.

Mick travels a lot and has shared this fantastic tip to save money on Damage Waiver Excess Insurance that car hire companies entice you to pay.    You know the drill.  You front up to pick up the keys and sort out the paperwork and then they ask if you would like to purchase insurance to waive the excess which is usually a daily charge.  You smell a rat, but you are in a bind as you don’t want to risk it.  If you had an accident or your car was stolen you might be liable to pay  thousands of dollars.  It would certainly put a dampener on the holiday.

However, did you know that travel insurance provided by various companies already covers this excess (in the fine print)?   Even if you travel domestically you can purchase travel insurance for medical, unexpected cancellation, lost luggage etc. Read more

Save money on insurance - this week’s Money Tip without the BS (boring stuff of course!)

Insurance is one of the expenses that we just love to hate.  Unfortunately insurance is also one of life’s necessities.   Following are some suggestions on how you can save on premiums:-

Review your insurances annually. Insurance companies are very clever at finding ways to make sure you pay the premiums on time and often.

Pay by the month is a great way to manage the budget, but I suspect the insurance companies also know that we probably won’t check on them until the budget is really tight.  Read more

Debt Recyling … Good for you!

 

Have you heard the term ‘debt recycling’?

Simply means that you have taken out an investment loan to purchase an asset like shares or property, and then use the income from these investments to repay debt on the family home.

The reason it can be such a powerful strategy to reduce debt is that the interest applied on an investment loan is normally tax deductible, whereas the interest on the loan attached to the family home is not.

Therefore, it makes sense to pay the family home off first as you are paying with after-tax dollars.