Security
With the news that Medibank was subject to a hack attack does little to boost one’s confidence in the cyber health of our major service providers. We are encouraged to take care of our personal security on a daily basis so we install guardian software ( come of which is of dubious worth), VPN’s Ad blockers, antivirus, anti malware and so on. We change our passwords endlessly and try and leave a clean digital life without leaving too many breadcrumbs behind and what is the point when even our ISP is hacked and the supposed custodians of sensitive data are at the mercy of cyber crims.
Maybe they are just enthusiastic amateurs in suburban bedrooms learning to hack – or maybe it is more organised? Maybe foreign agents who want to disrupt our society are to blame? Will we ever know?
Hopefully the Feds are busy hacking the hackers, but in security matters they are rarely more than a few months ahead of the criminals at best. Ever cynical, dare I suggest that this presents an ideal time for the ACSC to ask for more funds or Border Security to become even more power hungry in order to make us feel safer!
When I have done my best to keep my digital pathways clean and well swept I do not want to find that big business and services are letting the dog turds build up in their own patch.
Is it worth it?
But I really wanted to say more in general about Private Health.
Yesterday I reviewed my policy in view of the rate increase next month.
When I looked at what we paid for “Extras” cover against what we claimed, it was pretty obvious we were paying for nothing,
While I can understand the desirability of Private Hospital Cover, I cannot see the need for “Extras”.
A few hundred dollars a year for your dental and optical will not provide sufficient rebates to offset the cost of the insurance.
At $70 a month for the extras I can easily put that money in little fund to pay for my specs and dental clean.
My meds are already cheap thanks to the PBS so I can’t claim anymore there and if I miss out on Physiotherapy so be it! Again with what I can save in premiums will go a long way to offset my medical costs. (But I am fairly healthy so I know others are not so lucky and maybe they can justify wanting such insurance.)
In my efforts to get the best deal on the hospital side I was able to use Health Insurance Comparison to find the best alternatives for me. Maybe I will go back to them for other things like house and contents?
