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Health insurance can be expensive and if you're struggling financially or looking to save some money, you might be considering cancelling your policy. Before you do, there are some important things you need to consider, especially if you think you'll need health insurance again in the future.
If you do feel that you need to cancel your policy, we'll help you find out how you can do that as well in this guide.
Before you start the cancellation process you should review your current policy. Compare the cost of your cover with other providers and see if there is a cheaper option available. You could also look at reducing your hospital benefits and extras cover to quickly reduce costs without having to completely cancel your policy. This could help in the long run as you won't have to reserve your waiting periods at a later date and you might avoid paying age loadings on future policies you might have to take out.
Run some quick quotes to see how you current policy stacks up against those offered by other providers.
It's important to understand why you need to cancel your insurance. Once you cancel your cover you won't be able to restart it, so it's best to make sure that it's the best option for you.
You’re not alone. Health insurance costs are rising and many Australians are looking for a better option.
Good move. It’s often more cost-effective to get cover under a family or couples plan rather than multiple singles policies.
Typical health insurance policies will cover you in Australia only, so if you’re going overseas for an extended period, there’s probably no point paying premiums for cover you can’t use. Many insurers will happily freeze your account while you’re overseas, so may not actually need to cancel.
Fair enough. If your insurer has ticked you off, consider calling them first to try to find a resolution. It’s a competitive marketplace, so you may be surprised how willing they are to make accommodations and offer discounts.
When you cancel a health insurance policy your insurer usually has the right to charge an administration fee. This varies between insurers, policies and cancellations, but should generally be a small, affordable sum. On the whole it's pretty easy to cancel, this can normally be done on the phone or sometimes with a few clicks via your online health fund.
You can only get your premiums refunded if you are cancelling within a cooling-off period. This is a window, typically 30 days, during which you can cancel your policy for a refund.
If you cancel a policy within the cooling-off period you are entitled to a full refund of all premiums paid in the policy period to date, unless you’ve already made a claim. Administration and other fees may still be levied during the cooling-off period.
You will not have to start new waiting periods for treatments that were covered by your old policy, but you will for benefits that were not part of your old policy.
Waiting periods relate to how long you have to wait between taking out a health insurance policy and being able to make claims for certain treatments. Sometimes you will have to start serving your waiting periods from the beginning, and sometimes they will transfer across to your new policy.
Private health insurance in Australia is not mandatory, but is strongly encouraged through regulation. Not having private health insurance usually means you pay more taxes, which might end up costing even more than health insurance in the long run. Regulations are also designed to make it easier for you to switch, and to give you more control over your health insurance. Recognition of waiting periods served with other providers, and a mandatory cooling-off period with refunds, are both legal requirements that health insurance providers must fulfill.
Australia’s private health insurance system is designed to make it easy to cancel and change policies. If it’s time to switch, you can take full advantage of this fact.
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I want to cancel my health insurance coverage because I got next insurance cover for me and my dependent.
Hello Saugaat,
Thank you for your comment.
I understand that you want to cancel your current health insurance coverage. To cancel, please contact your insurer by phone or email to have them check your policy and cancel your insurance for you. They may need to tell you more details about your policy for cancellation.
Should you wish to have real-time answers to your questions, try our chat box on the lower right corner of our page.
Regards,
Jhezelyn