health.com.au’s overseas visitor health cover

If you’re looking for a fast way to get a visa compliance letter for your 457 or 485 visa application, you might be looking for health.com.au's Minimum Working Visa Cover. This overseas visitor health cover (OVHC) provides health insurance for visitors to Australia and can help cover necessary medical treatments while you’re in Australia. It meets your visa requirements and means you don’t have to pay too much for unwanted extras.

How much does OVHC from health.com.au cost?

You can choose from 4 policies with different levels of cover, they start at

• $65 per month for singles
• $130 per month for couples cover
• $150 per month for family cover

What am I covered for?

You’re covered for hospital procedures in both private and public hospitals. The amount you’re covered for is 100% of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). It also pays for the following:

• Medical repatriation. In the event of serious injury or illness, you might need repatriation back to your home country. health.com.au can pay up to $20,000 for this.
• $5,000 funeral expenses. If the worst happens, you can be covered for up to $5,000 of funeral expenses.
• Emergency ambulance. If you have to call an ambulance for an emergency situation, health.com.au can cover the costs.

What makes this cover good?

It’s relatively inexpensive cover, but it still covers you up to 100% of the MBS amount, so if something happens, you might pay less out of pocket on a range of services. If you're looking for a good value policy that balances low price with a range of services, this could be the cover for you.

What makes this cover cheaper than others I've seen?

Mostly, it only covers the medical bills you might get as a hospital inpatient. This is after you’ve been officially admitted to a hospital. More expensive OVHC might also cover more out-of-hospital costs. For example, it might give you an allowance to go see a GP, or cover other out-of-hospital things like trips to the dentist. With this cover, you can reasonably assume that you won’t be covered for anything that’s not part of a hospital admission, with the exception of repatriation and funeral expenses.

What is not covered?

There are some excluded treatments. Even if you receive these treatments as a hospital inpatient, health.com.au will not pay for the following:

• IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) and related services
• Cosmetic surgery unless it’s medically necessary
• Bone marrow and organ transplants
• Out-of-hospital pharmaceuticals or certain high cost medications
• Ancillary services, such as going to a dentist or visiting an optometrist outside of hospital.

Most of these are frequently excluded by OVHC health insurance.

Other exclusions

There are other specific situations where you won’t be covered.

• Treatments outside Australia or treatments in Australia that were arranged before arrival
• Services or treatments covered by any kind of compensation
• Related equipment, such as crutches or oxygen tents
• Treatments within waiting periods

What are the waiting periods?

There’s a delay before you can make a claim for health insurance. These are typical for health insurance of all kinds in Australia.

• Pre-existing conditions. A 12-month waiting period applies, except for psychiatric, rehabilitation or palliative care treatments, which only have a 2-month waiting period.
• Obstetrics. There’s a 12-month waiting period for pregnancy-related services.
• Accidents and emergency ambulance transport. There’s only a 1-day waiting period for accidents and emergency transportation, such as a car crash or if you need to be transported to a hospital in case of an emergency. This means you can claim those the day after taking out cover.
• Everything else. There’s a 2-month waiting period for all treatments not otherwise specified.

Anything else?

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. To get this OVHC, you can go to health.com.au.