I know I’ve heard this on the media too. Haven’t paid any attention though as we won’t be getting private health insurance

nope lol. this is a great question to ask though

For every year that you are over 31, when you go to get private health insurance they add an extra 2% of that cover onto your insurance. So if you wait until you are 40 before you get health insurance you could pay an extra 18% in insurance fees. Be careful though. don’t let insurance companies rip you off. make sure you do your research to get what your family really needs.

It is cheaper to get your basic cover… doesn’t need to be fancy all extras, just basic and you won’t pay more.

You will get taxed an extra 1percent tax off your salary annually if you don’t have private health care,this will be adjusted at tax time.

Yes – if you’re over 31 and don’t have health insurance, then when you do join you have to pay an extra 10%( not completely sure about this figure) a year for each year over 31 when you got insurance (eg if you were 33 you’d have to pay 30% extra, I think). Even though my husband has to pay the levy, because he didn’t insure himself before we were married, it is still cheaper than the extra Medicare levy we BOTH have to pay even if he’s the only one uninsured. It should be starkly obvious when you do your tax – or talk to an accountant.