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Bronze health insurance

Bronze tier hospital insurance includes coverage for 18 types of private hospital treatments from around $23 a week*. It's more comprehensive than basic policies, but less than silver and gold.

Top pick:
Winner: Best Bronze Cover
HCF
  • Winner: Best Bronze Cover 2023
  • HCF's Hospital Bronze Plus covers 26 treatment categories
Top pick:
Highly Commended
HBF Health Limited
  • Highly Commended: Best Bronze Cover 2023
  • HBF's Bronze Hospital Plus covers 26 treatment categories
Top pick:
Highly Commended
Medibank Private Limited
  • Highly Commended: Best Bronze Cover 2023
  • Medibank's Bronze Plus Progress covers 26 treatment categories

What you need to know:

  • Bronze hospital insurance helps cover 18 different treatment categories in the private hospital system.
  • The cheapest bronze policies start from around $23 a week*.
  • Bronze hospital cover includes treatments like joint reconstructions, gynaecology, and ear, nose and throat.

*Prices are based on a single person living in Sydney earning less than $90,000 per year.

Pros and cons of Bronze health insurance

Pros

  • Covers a wide range of common hospital treatments at an affordable price
  • Includes cover for joint reconstructions, diabetes management, and miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
  • Lots of 'Bronze plus' policies exist that give you access to specific Silver treatments on top of standard Bronze coverage

Cons

  • Not as comprehensive as either Silver or Gold cover
  • Doesn't cover some important treatments like pregnancy and birth, joint replacements or hospital dental surgery
  • If you only need hospital insurance to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge or Lifetime Health Care loading, you can save by opting for a Basic policy instead

Compare more Bronze health insurance policies

The following table shows insurers from Finder partners that offer Bronze health insurance policies. All prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income and living in Sydney.

1 - 9 of 9
Name Product Treatments Price Apply
Bronze Hospital 750
Bronze$750 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$88.60
per month
starter bronze
Bronze$750 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$88.70
per month
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$89.19
per month
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$91.00
per month
Bronze Hospital 500
Bronze$500 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$93.24
per month
starter bronze
Bronze$500 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$94.96
per month
Bronze Hospital $750/$1500
Bronze$750 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$98.27
per month
Bronze Hospital $500/$1000
Bronze$500 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$103.29
per month
Bronze Hospital $200/$400
Bronze$200 excess
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
  • +14 other treatments covered
$115.54
per month
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Best Health Insurance - Bronze Hospital

HCF health insurance

HCF - Hospital Bronze Plus

HCF's Hospital Bronze Plus policy is the 2023 Finder Award winner in our bronze category. It won based on value for money, meaning policies that covered more treatments in a private hospital for a lower premium scored higher. It scored higher than all eligible bronze hospital policies on the market.

Health insurance methodology

Highly commended

HBF health insurance

HBF - Bronze Hospital Plus

HBF's Bronze Hospital Plus policy came in second place for our bronze category. The 2022 winner costs around $22 per week and covers 26 services including gastrointestinal endoscopy, bone, joint and muscle, and kidney and bladder.

Medibank health insurance

Medibank - Bronze Plus Progress

Medibank's Bronze Plus Progress policy came in third place. It costs around $21 per week and covers a wide range of treatments including treatment for back, neck and spine.

What are the hospital health insurance tiers?

Each of the different health insurance tiers has to cover a standardised set of treatments. Here's a quick summary of each tier.
Gold hospital cover icon

Gold hospital cover

Gold-tier hospital insurance covers all 38 treatments outlined by the Australian government. This includes treatments like joint replacements, pregnancy and insulin pumps, as well as all services covered by Silver-tier policies.

Average premium: $218.78 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $162.44 a month for a single policy.*
Silver hospital cover icon

Silver hospital cover

Silver-tier hospital insurance covers at least 26 treatments outlined by the Australian government. This includes treatments like dental surgery, lung and chest, and podiatric surgery, as well as all services covered by Bronze-tier policies.

Average cost: $147.89 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $102.5 a month for a single policy.*
Bronze hospital cover icon

Bronze hospital cover

Bronze-tier hospital insurance covers at least 18 treatments outlined by the Australian government. This includes treatments like joint reconstructions, gynaecology, and ear, nose and throat, as well as all services covered by Basic-tier policies.
Average cost: $98.84 a month for a single policy.
Lowest premium: $86.34 a month for a single policy.*
Basic hospital cover icon

Basic hospital cover

Basic-tier hospital insurance isn't required to fully cover any treatments outlined by the Australian government, but it does need to have restricted cover for rehabilitation, hospital psychiatric services and palliative care. Generally, Basic cover is primarily used to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Health Cover loading.

Average cost: $84.13 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $76.9 a month for a single policy.*

*Average prices are updated monthly, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income and living in Sydney with a $750 excess.

If a policy is described as a 'plus' policy, then it will cover the minimum number of treatments for its tier, plus at least 1 treatment from the next tier up. For a full list of the treatments covered by Basic policies, click the link below.

Who might need Bronze cover?

Young single icon

Young people

If you're fit, healthy and don't plan on having children, a Bronze hospital policy may provide you with more than adequate cover for your needs at a pretty reasonable price. Bronze-tier policies include a range of treatments that will be useful for young people, including:

  • Joint reconstructions
  • Bone, joint and muscle
  • Digestive system
  • Male reproductive system

And to sweeten the deal, if you're aged between 18 and 25, insurers may offer a discount of up to 10% off your hospital premiums until you turn 40.

Woman icon

Women

Bronze hospital insurance covers a range of treatments that are particularly useful for women both young and old, including:

  • Breast and ovarian cancer treatment
  • Breast reconstruction
  • Gynaecological services
  • Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy

The only caveat is that if you're planning on having a child in the private system, you'll want to consider a Gold policy. Pregnancy and birth is only covered on Gold and some Silver plus policies.

family icon

Young families

Bronze-tier policies are available for singles, couples or as family policies, and are particularly well-suited for a young family. As long as you're not expecting to get pregnant soon, Bronze coverage covers a range of common treatments for young parents (see above) and young children, including:

  • Ear, nose and throat
  • Tonsils, adenoids and grommets
  • Bone, joint and muscle

Rich person icon

High income earners

If you earn more than $90,000 per year, you'll be charged the Medicare Levy Surcharge. This is an additional income tax of up to 1.5%, and can easily get into the thousands of dollars, depending on how much you earn. While holding any hospital policy will exempt you from the MLS, a Bronze policy will cover you for a range of common hospital treatments at the same time.

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Bronze hospital insurance: Frequently asked questions

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