CORONAVIRUS EYES We detail the help available to you
THE COVID-19 pandemic has thrown Australia into unprecedented turmoil with many fearing for their financial futures, but experts have offered advice on what assistance packages you should look at first.
The government has announced a suite of financial packages for a wide number Australians including – homeowners, sole traders, pensioners, seniors, casual staff and the recently unemployed – to help them survive this crisis.
Here, we cut through the confusion of what is on offer – and what financial measures you should activate first. chologist covered by their health fund if their policy covers psychological services.
“Health fund members who have been severely impacted by job loss or underemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are urged to contact their fund directly as they may be eligible to have their premium waived for an extended period. Health funds are currently putting programs in place to provide support for members,” Private Healthcare Australia chief Dr Rachel David said.
“The primary focus of health funds is to meet the needs of the community and members in these challenging and uncertain times and offering financial support by way of premium waivers is an important first step.”
The majority of health funds have agreed to provide coverage for teleconsultations provided by psychologists from Monday, March 30, to help ease the financial burden and keep people healthy, subject to the conditions listed below.
Initially it might be difficult to ensure benefits are paid quickly as electronic claiming systems (in particular, HICAPS) and some health funds’ processes are not set up to deliver benefits for telehealth services. PHA, Australian Psychological Society and individual funds will address the system issues as quickly as possible.
With the Australian Psychological Society (APS), private health insurers have agreed to provide benefits for individual (one-on-one) psychology teleconsultations where:
The patient is undergoing an existing course of treatment, and has seen the psychologist providing the