Im with you that it would be cheaper to pay the 1% levy, however im lucky enough to be in a position to afford private health care. Im just a weirdo as i believe because i am a high income earner i can and should pay for as much of my health care as possible - to leave the medicare for the people that need it. Ive never been particularly money oriented but then again im lucky enough to be in a good position (dont get me wrong ive have also been in serious debt to pay for Uni etc)
Although i have a top of the range health policy it is amazing what things arent covered (organised through my work so its pretty good value and gets taken out of my salary so i dont notice it as much
). Ie when i couldnt sleep it would cover expensive sleeping tablets indefinately but wouldnt cover a hypnotherapist ($60 and only one visit!). Each year i probably have a gap of about $500 (dental, glasses, tests etc for all 3 of us). All my lap was covered apart from the anaesthatist which i was out of pocket about $80.
My concern about the high income earners is that the cut off is $50k per year. A family living on this would probably be paying $2k minumum for private health insurance(if at all) and then if they had to pay for all doctors visits and things not covered by their insurance they would be out of pocket by thousands more.
Em