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Gold health insurance
Gold hospital insurance is the most comprehensive hospital cover that money can buy. It's available from around $62
a week*.
Who is this cover for?
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I'm Tim, your insurance expert.
Here to help you find the right cover for you!
Step 1/2 - About your cover
Which state do you live in?
QLD
NSW
ACT
VIC
TAS
SA
WA
NT
What's your age?
Depending on your age, you may be eligible for an
aged-based discount. This is used to estimate your
rebate.
Under 65
65 - 69
70 or older
What's your household's taxable income?
This is the combined income you and your spouse earn before tax. It's needed to calculate the correct Australian government rebate.
$93,000 and under
$93,001 to $108,000
$108,001 to $144,000
$144,001 and over
What kind of health insurance do you need?
Combined (Extras + Hospitals)
Extras
Hospital
What level of hospital coverage would you like?
You can change this at any time later.
Legend
Covered
Restricted cover, You may be partially covered for
this category.
Not covered. Optional for insurer to include.
*Prices updated July 2024, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices reflect the cheapest available for a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney with a $750 excess.
What extras cover do you need? (Optional)
Select as many as you want or move to the next step
Preventative & general dental
Major dental & implants
Optical
Physiotherapy
Podiatry
Non-PBS pharmaceuticals
Chiropractic
Emergency ambulance
Remedial massage
Email me my results (optional)
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Gold-tier hospital policies are the most comprehensive hospital insurance policies available in Australia.
The cheapest gold hospital policies start from around $55 a week.
Gold hospital insurance covers hospital treatments including childbirth, cataracts and joint replacements.
*Prices are based on a single person living in Sydney earning less than $93,000 per year.
Pros and cons of gold health insurance
Pros
Comprehensive cover for treatment in a private hospital.
The only tier to include coverage for pregnancy and childbirth.
Covers rehabilitation, hospital psychiatric services and palliative care.
Cons
Gold cover is expensive, often costing well in excess of $160 per month.
If you don't need cover for a service like pregnancy, a gold policy will still charge and cover you for it. Gold cover is often more coverage than people need.
Doesn't cover outpatient services without additional extras cover.
Compare more gold health insurance policies
The following table shows insurers from Finder partners that offer gold health insurance policies.
St. Lukes Health Gold hospital policy is the 2024 gold hospital winner. It covers all 38 hospital treatments for less than almost every other health insurance policy on the market.
Health Partners Gold hospital policy is the 2024 runner up in our gold category. It covers all 38 hospital treatments for less than almost every other health insurance policy on the market.
HBF's Gold hospital Elevate is another highly commended brand in the 2024 gold hospital category. It covers all 38 hospital treatments and comes with several unique perks across the board.
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
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: $242.42 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $172.80 a month for a single policy.*
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: $152.22 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $102.50 a month for a single policy.*
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: $100.15 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $88.70 a month for a single policy.*
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: $85.93 a month for a single policy.*
Lowest premium: $77 a month for a single policy.*
*Average prices updated July 2024, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney with a $750 excess.
How much is gold cover in each state?
The cost of gold-tier hospital insurance varies by state, because the cost of care is different across Australia. The table below lays out the average and minimum monthly premiums in the Finder health insurance database.
Average monthly premium
Lowest monthly premium
NSW
$219.35
$162.44
QLD
$234.21
$176.69
VIC
$243.24
$173.09
TAS
$211.86
$166.62
SA
$201.28
$158.00
NT
$137.48
$86.62
WA
$189.28
$138.56
*Average prices are updated March 2024, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $93,000 income with a $750 excess.
If you're starting a family and want to have access to a private room during childbirth, you're going to want a gold hospital policy. Benefits only available on gold policies include:
Getting older means you're more susceptible to certain conditions – gold coverage includes a range of treatments that are especially useful to older Australians. A few examples that are helpful for seniors include:
Cataracts
Joint replacements
People with complex needs
There are many other treatments only covered under gold-tier health insurance policies which may be essential for some people. Here are a few gold treatments that could apply to you:
Dialysis for chronic kidney failure
Weight loss surgery
Insulin pumps
Pain management with device
Sleep studies
Why you can trust Finder's health insurance experts
You pay nothing. Finder is free to use. And you pay the same as going direct. No markups, no hidden fees.
You save time. We spend 100s of hours researching health insurance so you can sort the gold from the junk faster.
You can trust us. We say it like it is. We aren't owned by an insurer and our opinions are our own.
Gold hospital cover: Frequently asked questions
It's hard to say what the best gold policy is for sure, but St. Lukes won the 2024 gold hospital finder award, with Health Partners and hbf runners up. That makes St Lukes the best value gold policy on the market, but it is not necessarily the best in every way. For example, other funds like hbf offer a higher percentage of treatments with no gap, while several other funds have larger networks of partnered medical practitioners, including Bupa and nib. You'll have to figure out what's most important to you.
The cheapest gold hospital policies start at around $55 a week. Prices do go up on April 1st every year and every fund prices things differently, so you'll need to compare policies to make sure you get the right policy for you.
In Australia, there are 4 different tiers for hospital cover: Basic, bronze, silver and gold. Policies at each tier level are required to cover a standard set of treatments. Each tier covers everything in the lower tiers, plus several more treatments.
A gold hospital policy will cover all of the 38 standard hospital treatments set out by the government. This includes treatments like pregnancy and birth, joint replacements, assisted reproductive services, weight loss surgery, insulin pumps and cataracts.
All hospital insurance in Australia is required to provide cover for pre-existing conditions. However, there is a 12-month waiting period before you can make a claim for a pre-condition.
Tim Bennett is a Finder insurance & utilities expert. For over 10 years he's reported on news, politics, finance and other topics as a journalist and radio presenter. Tim's roles have included radio news reader and breakfast at the ABC, news producer for SBS and producer for Fairfax Media. Tim regularly appears as a health insurance expert on programs like Sunrise and SBS news, as well as in the Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and more. See full bio
Tim's expertise
Tim has written 115 Finder guides across topics including:
James Martin was the insurance editor at Finder. He has written on a range of insurance and finance topics for over 7 years. James often shares his insurance expertise as a media spokesperson and has appeared on Prime 7 News, WIN News, Insurance News, 7NEWS and The Guardian. He holds a Tier 1 General Insurance (General Advice) certification and a Tier 1 Generic Knowledge certification, both of which meet the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). See full bio
James's expertise
James has written 255 Finder guides across topics including:
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Highly commended
You pay nothing. Finder is free to use. And you pay the same as going direct. No markups, no hidden fees.
You save time. We spend 100s of hours researching health insurance so you can sort the gold from the junk faster.
You can trust us. We say it like it is. We aren't owned by an insurer and our opinions are our own.
