Best Health Fund of the Year
HBF is this year's 2023 Finder health insurance winner. The winner was determined by awarding points to the winners and runners-up of the gold/silver/bronze/basic awards and extras policy awards. The not-for-profit came out on top because it has some of the best value policies on the market.
Bupa came second place in this year's awards overall. Australia's second largest health insurance company is competitively priced and has several good value policies, from its basic hospital to its flexible extras options.
HCF is Australia's largest not-for-profit health fund. It came in third place because it offers several good value policies, such as its bronze plus and silver standard hospital options. It's also competitively priced.
Best Health Insurance - Basic HospitalThe following policies cover all of our category award winners for both hospital and extras.
HBF's Basic Hospital Plus Elevate policy won the 2023 Finder Awards for best basic hospital policy. These awards compared all eligible basic hospital policies on the market. It won based on value for money, meaning policies that covered more treatments in a private hospital for a lower premium scored higher.
Bupa's Basic Plus Starter Hospital policy came in second place for our basic category. It costs around $19 per week and covers treatments including tonsils, adenoids and grommets, joint reconstructions and miscarriage and termination of pregnancy.
nib's Basic Essential Hospital Plus policy came in third place for our basic category. It costs around $18 per week and covers treatments including tonsils, adenoids and grommets, hernia and appendix, and miscarriage and termination of pregnancy.
Best Health Insurance - Bronze HospitalHCF'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.
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'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.
Best Health Insurance - Silver HospitalHCF's Hospital Standard Silver Plus ranked in first place out of all of the eligible silver policies we analysed. The not-for-profit health fund's policy costs approximately $30 per week and covers treatments including digestive system, heart and vascular system and back, neck and spine.
HBF's Silver Hospital policy ranked in second place out of all of the eligible silver policies we analysed as part of the awards. The not-for-profit health fund's policy costs approximately $28 per week and covers 30 treatments including heart and vascular system, back, neck and spine, digestive system and dental surgery.
Qantas Silver Hospital policy ranked in third place out of all of the eligible silver policies we analysed as part of the Finder awards. The fund's policy costs around $25 per week and covers a number of treatments including heart and vascular system, digestive system and dental surgery.
Best Health Insurance - Gold Hospital
Australian Unity's Prime Hospital (Gold) policy is the 2023 gold hospital winner. It covers all 38 hospital treatments at a cheaper price than all of the other gold policies we analysed.
St. Lukes Health Gold hospital policy is the 2023 runner up in our gold category. It covers all 38 hospital treatments for less than almost every other health insurance policy on the market.
Medibank's Gold hospital complete is another highly commended brand in the 2023 gold hospital category. It covers all 38 hospital treatments and comes with several unique perks for families looking to get pregnant.
Best Health Insurance - Basic Extras
Westfund's Starter Extras option is the winner of the 2023 Basic Extras category. To get our final extras insurance scores, we added together the price and features scores and weighted them 50:50. Westfund's Starter Extras came out on top.
Bupa's Freedom Extras 60 option is the runner up in 2023 Basic Extras category. Costs start from around $7 a week and it covers general dental, optical and more.
Latrobe's Basic Extras option is the third highest ranking Basic Extras policy according to the Finder rating. Costs start from around $4 a week and it covers general dental, major dental, optical and more.
Best Health Insurance - Medium ExtrasHBF's Flex 50 is the Medium Extras category winner. Starting from around $8 a week, it lets you split your $800 limit across 12 popular services including preventative dental, major dental, physio and dietetics.
Bupa's FLEXtras 4 Standard 50 is another high-ranking flexible extras option. The 2023 runner up costs around $9 a week and lets you tailor your extras cover to suit your needs. You'll receive 50% back at Bupa recognised providers on your selected services, up to your yearly limits.
Medibank's Healthy Start Extras came in third place. It costs around $6 per week, making it one of the cheapest policies available. You get a $500 combined limit on extras services such as physio, mental health support and chiro.
Best Health Insurance - Comprehensive ExtrasThe Comprehensive Extras category winner for 2023 is Latrobe's Core Complete Extras Package. It costs approximately $9 per week and covers all standard extras treatments, as well as nutrition, psychology, audiology, speech therapy, health appliances including blood glucose monitors and hearing aids. It also comes with unlimited emergency ambulance transportation.
The second highest ranking policy in the comprehensive extras category, Westfund's Mid Extras policy is only available when you take out a hospital policy but still provides very good value. Its cover includes a $2,500 lifetime limit on orthodontic treatment and up to $120 per policy, per calendar year to put towards antenatal and postnatal classes.
Medibank - Growing Family 60 is tailored towards families who plan to have children. It covers all the standard extras treatments as well as pregnancy compression garments, antenatal and postnatal services and more.
Our health insurance award winners are based on dozens of hours of research by our expert authors and insights team.
We researched almost every health insurance policy on the market – Bupa, Medibank, nib, HCF and more.
Some winners may be partners but this never influences our decisions. All policies are based on a clear methodology and must meet editorial standards.
We gathered hundreds of health insurance quotes and found a difference of $500+ between the cheapest and most expensive hospital policy.
With inflation still high and the annual indexation looming, should you make some extra repayments to your debt?
Are runes and ordinals about to be the next big thing in crypto?
Save $1,297 by investing some of your savings in an exchange-traded fund.
Find all the weekly tips from our Dollar Saver newsletter and see how you could save.
Drive a banger that needs some TLC?
More Australians are resorting to theft as they struggle with the rising cost of living, according to new research by Finder.
No one wants to spend years and years paying off what ends up being mostly interest. Here are several tips on how to pay off your home loan faster.
SPONSORED: We take a look at how term deposits can help you save more cash and build wealth.
Australian pet owners would fork out an eye-watering amount before considering putting their pet down, according to new research by Finder.
The fourth Bitcoin halving is here - what to expect next from Bitcoin.