Health Insurance for the Single Income Family

Image Credit

This is an advertorial written by Choosi

I was asked to write what I know about choosing health insurance... I know absolutely nothing other than I've never been without it and will never be without it if I have anything to do with it. Mine has paid for itself over and over again, especially after a stay in hospital a few years back that would have cost me $35,000.

So since I know nothing, here's what Choosi have to say:

I have some friends who are the only wage-earner in their family who have a hard time understanding what to do for their healthinsurance. It can be hard to provide the right hospital cover and extras cover for themselves and their kids, as a lot of the laws relating to family health insurance are different compared to those where both parents are in employment.

Paying for your family’s health insurance can be tough, especially with the global economy being in its current state. However, it’s possible to try and save money on your policy. You could compare health insurance costs of different insurers to get the best deal possible without paying too much. Websites like Choosi canhelp with comparing different policies.

Single Parent Families

Something else you need to be aware of is the Medicare Levy and income thresholds. Any single parent family which has an annual income of over $168,000 has to pay a 1% Medicare Levy, with those earning more than $194,000 paying 1.25% and 1.5% for those on over $260,000. Thankfully, you save yourself the trouble of having to pay the Medicare Levy if you earn less than $168,000 providing that you have the right amount of health insurance.

As well as being exempt from paying the Medicare Levy if you’re privately insured, you might also be surprised to learn that single parents can receive other benefits from the government. You might be entitled to the Family Tax Benefit, which will make paying for insurance a little bit easier. Also, there’s the Baby Bonus, which you can get if you have a new child. Payments can exceed $5,000, which is handy when trying to save for a rainy day.

You might think that health insurance for parents, especially single ones can be too much to cope with. Thankfully, as some of my friends have found out, with all the benefits they receive and finding the best deals available, they can easily afford to cover themselves and their kids if they felt ill or had an accident. 

Single Income Families

There is help available for single income families as well; Family Tax Benefit Part B is available for families where the primary (or sole) earner has an adjusted taxable income of $150,000 or less per year. An income test is used to work out how much Family Tax Benefit Part B you can get. The maximum rates of Family Tax Benefit Part B as from 1 July 2012 are:

Age of youngest child	Maximum rates of payment
	Each fortnight	Each year
under 5	$144.34	$4117.20
5–18	$100.66	$2978.40

There is an online estimator tool available on the government’s Department of Human Services website which you can use to estimate or compare the Family Tax Benefit you may get, based on your current or proposed income.

The government is also bringing in a Single Income Family supplement which will be available from 1 July 2013 for families with one primary earner whose income is between $68 000 and $150 000. For more details Google the Department of Human Services.

How To Create a Kick Ass Media Kit that Glows

Oh hello, fancy seeing you here. Are you here for the all the boob and lady parts talk? No? Oh right, maybe the post where I rant about dickhead doctors or my boy's wonky noggin? Hrmm not that either? OK how about the schmaltzy posts that are obviously written when I'm high on hormones? Wow not that either! Oooh I know why you're here. The kick ass media kit!

If you were at Blogopolis or were following #nnb2011 you might have heard that Andrew Hughes of Reprise Media mentioned that I had a good media kit. He went as far as saying it was better than some of the professional ones he's seen. Woah. That's one hell of a compliment, I had no idea it was coming and it left me blushing (though I was also having an allergic reaction to seafood at the time so maybe it was just that).

If I hadn't been sucking down on antihistamines I would have taken a screen capture of all the tweets that followed and stuck it on my mirror instead of those "You're a wonderful, worthy person" post it notes that are meant to send you down the path of enlightenment. Because a wall of Tweets from other people saying you rock absolutely kicks "Live each day to the fullest" to the kerb.

My inbox has been jam packed full of requests to see it ever since. I have shared my media kit, sponsorship request letters and the like with lots of Bloggers before because it's only fair I pass on the knowledge that was shared with me when I was starting out.

So here we go... this won't be what you're expecting...

Why yes that IS my award smack bang in the centre
so you know right away I'm awesome!

There was one person who was amazingly helpful when I first started looking for sponsorship, who sent me her kit and then looked over mine when I'd put only the smallest of personal touches on it (like my then follower count of 82). That woman is Tina Gray from TinaGray{dot}Me and the PR Friendly Aussie Blog Directory.

It's been about a year since Tina looked over my kit and gave it a nod of approval. In that time it has changed a lot and morphed in to something that is truly my own. The flesh is different but the bones of it? Well they are still the same and it would be dishonest of me to claim that I am some fancy pants media kit creator when it was her framework that I built upon.

Now I bet you weren't expecting an attention whore like me to say that, were you?

I encourage you all to check out Tina's eBook about how to create a media kit and then build on it so that you end up with a finished product that reflects you and your blog.

All I can add was the feedback I received from Andrew about why he liked it. He said I "communicate all of the important things that I needed to know quickly and up front – then all of the detail was there If I wanted".

In my now infamous kit I have all the important stuff on the front page including:

• a section about my blog written in my usual "blog voice" so up front you know I'm rather tongue-in-cheek. I will admit this less than professional tone could lose me some business, but I want a company to know what I'm like
• a section about me, also written in my usual "blog voice"
• a section about my audience demographics and level of reader engagement in a more professional tone (well as professional as someone like me can get)
• a section about why a company should choose to go with me as a Mummy Blogger
• a table with all my stats and where they came from 

Yep, all of that one ONE PAGE. If you can't fit that all on one page you're saying too much. If a company likes what they see there, they can flip over and read more. If you make them go searching through a massive kit for the information they need, chances are they'll pop you in the 'too hard basket'.

Over the next five pages (ya-huh, it's loooong!) I have:

• links to the websites I've been featured on and a list of the magazines I've been featured in
• a list of the awards I've won (OK so it was only one but it totally deserves a section)
• a testimony page showing reader engagement and praise for my sarcasm writing 
• terms and conditions of running a review/giveaway/sponsored post and links to examples of each
• sponsorship packages currently available and a summary of previous ones
• advertising rates and payment options
• contact details

So there you have it. Anticlimactic much?

I wanna say a massive thank you to everyone who linked to me in their Blogopolis wrap ups and of course to Andrew for mentioning me in the first place. My site stats have jumped about 25% because of it and it's both  completely awesome and overwhelming at the same time. My ego is so freakin big right now that I'm needing a neck brace to support my fat head. So, um, in closing, if you're a blogger, go make your Media Kit Glow. If you're a company... you should totally sponsor me to go to BlogHer12 with Zoey and Louisa.

Market Research 101

I did a product survey yesterday. I do a lot of them. I'm not talking about the cool Bloggy things, I mean the focus group type surveys.

Aunty Penny works in marketing so whenever these things come around in my inbox I think about how some poor schmuck has gone to so much effort to put this survey together, and I feel a bit sorry for them. What if no one fills out their survey? What if they get fired because of that? It would be my fault, since the world revolves around me and all. So I take a few minutes to fill it out.

I also do the phone surveys that "only take two minutes" that actually take ten minutes. You can look me up in the phonebook under "Sucker".

Though telemarketers are a different story; I'm never ever rude to them, since I was one, but dude, do NOT call me during dinner and then get huffy when I say no thank you. That is a one way ticket to phone slammage. It's a word, trust me.

But I digress.

Yesterday's survey was about a new shower gel. It asked me how exciting the product was.

Um, excuse me? Exciting? No. It's shower gel. I don't get in the shower, turn to see my shower gel then shout out whoopeeeeeee just because I've seen that it's some new organic crap in a fancy pants recycled hemp bottle with added essential oils. It's just shower gel.

So, marketing gurus, take note; here, for your benefit is the list of questions and answers I would like to see you ask about your brand spanking new product the next time I get your survey:

1. Based on our carefully worded spiel and fancy air brushed pictures of the new shower gel, are you:
a) Very impressed
b) Slightly impressed
c) Not very impressed
d) Dude, it's shower gel. Put an elephant in the bottle and then I'll be impressed.

Why elephant? I dunno, sounded good in my head

2. Based on the lovely description but complete lack of price details, how likely are you to purchase this amazing new shower gel when you're next at the shops?:
a) Very likely
b) Somewhat likely
c) Unlikely
d) Dude, it's shower gel. If I've run out, it's on special and cheaper than everything else I will buy it.

3. Which of these phrases describes how new and different you think this product is compared to what is available?
a) Extremely new and different
b) Somewhat new and different
c) Not very new and different
d) Dude, it's shower gel, it's not new or different at all. A funny shaped bottle doesn't make you cool.

4. How relevant is this super duper shower gel to your house hold?
a) Very relevant
b) Slightly relevant
c) Not relevant
d) Dude, it's shower gel. I shower, therefore it's gotta be a bit relevant, right?

There you have it, marketing gurus. You can send your cheques to me now!

Are you a sucker? Do you do marketing surveys? Do you want elephants in your shower gel?
No elephants were harmed in the making of this post.

Stroller-derby

I am a clever marketer's dream - have a cute logo or even a smart ad campaign and you've got my attention (actually, save time and just put your product in shiny packaging and you've got me) and brand loyalty. But I am also a poor marketer's nightmare – if I think you're trying to pull the wool over my eyes or being condescending then no matter how fantastic your product is, I won't buy it on principle.

I've been inundated with free magazines and brochures on all sorts of baby products recently and they all have the standard “when you want the best for your baby” type slogans and feature a good looking, upper middle class, white mum in her early 30s. Apart from being a massive stereotype they've done their job well, since their target market is in fact, good looking, upper middle class, white mums in their early 30s. I'm not so daft that I believe everything I'm told though, and just because a company tells me their product is “closer to nature” than the next doesn't mean it is, so I'm going to look at the ingredients list and decide for myself (I knew my units on cosmetic chemistry would come in handy one day - I know what all those big words are!). And I know that just because the baby in your ad is cute and smiling when you use “Super Fantastic Nappies” doesn't mean mine isn't going to scream down the house sometimes when I use them – but that's OK, you can gloss over some of those minor details, make it look pretty - thats advertising after all.

There is one ad though, that whenever I see it I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's for the Steelcraft Strider Plus pram and whilst I'm sure it is a fantastic contraption, the ad features a tall, leggy model dressed in crisp white trousers, black high heels, funky necklaces and not looking a day over 25. I have a few problems believing this is an accurate depiction of a mother;

• those blindingly white pants should have some baby spew or at least a bit of smooshed banana on them

• accessories and high heels are not the first things I think of when I hear the word mother – I'm more likely to think (and wear) jeans and ballet flats. If those flats happen to match my shirt then all the better. The necklace should have some crusted up baby slobber on it too

• this pram is $700 before you even buy the infant carrier section – if you can afford such an expensive pram and your under 25 I want to know what line of work you are in, and can you get me an interview?

• but the absolute kicker? THERE IS NO BABY IN THE PRAM!

Are you sure that's not the friend of the mum just minding the pram while she puts bub in the car? Yes I know, I'm stereotyping too. I'm sure a mother can be glamorous and look like a model – I've seen the pictures of Heidi Klum strutting her stuff down the Victoria's Secret catwalk mere weeks after popping out her fourth – so I know it is possible. Do people really think if they buy this pram they will look like this highly starched goddess?

I'd much prefer the ad campaign to show a normal looking mum (you can still make her good looking, upper middle class woman in her early 30s if you must – I'll let you keep that for now), taking a real child on a shopping trip. Show me how useful this contraption is going to be - how much of my shopping can fit underneath? Can I fold it down and put it in the boot one handed because I'm busy holding a screaming toddler in the other arm? That goes for the harness too - can I do it up with one hand whilst stopping the trolley rolling away and causing car-mageddon? And most importantly, how effectively will it push people out of the way at the January sales?