Laser eye surgery health insurance

If you're looking for laser eye surgery to improve your sight, a comprehensive extras insurance policy can knock around $1200 off your bill.

Medicare only covers eye surgery that's considered 'medically necessary', like cataracts — it won't cover laser eye surgery to correct your sight.

Get health insurance for laser eye surgery

Only a handful of health insurers cover you for laser eye surgery. We've listed the ones available on Finder below.

Fund	Laser Eye Surgery	Limit	Monthly Price	Apply
AHM Lifestyle Extras	Yes	$600 per eye	$53.9	Go to Site
Peoplecare High Extras	Yes	$500 per eye	$91.30	Go to Site
Medibank Gold Ultra Health	Yes	$3,500	$399.55	Go to Site

*Quotes are based on single individual with less than $90,000 income and living in Sydney.

How much does insurance for major eye surgery cost?

You'll find major eye surgery in hospital cover. Below are a few policies from Finder partners that cover this treatment, prices quoted are for a single policy in Sydney

Major eye surgery that includes cataracts falls into a Gold tier, although some funds also offer it in silver.

Sort by:

Name	Product	Cataract Surgery	Tier	Price Per Month	Hide CompareBox	Apply
ahm deluxe silver plus			Silver	$160.20		1300 670 233 Go to Site More Info	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Qantas Silver Plus Hospital			Silver	$159.84		1300 641 719 Go to Site More Info	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
HCF Hospital Silver Plus			Silver	$172.25		Go to Site More Info	Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Peoplecare Silver Plus Hospital			Silver	$177		1300 717 481 Go to Site More Info	Compare	loading Fetching your data...

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What if you have multiple major eye surgery options?

In the case of major eye surgery, you will sometimes be faced with a choice as to how you would like the procedure to be carried out, and your decision will have health insurance implications. For example, you may be given the choice of:

• Femtosecond laser cataract surgery, which is quicker and safer although may require a high level of extras cover.
• Manual cataract surgery. Which is cheaper and therefore may be your only option if you have basic extras cover.

Should this happen, it’s a good idea to check with your health fund and your doctor before agreeing to any procedure to ensure that you understand all the insurance implications of your decision.

Looking to compare laser eye surgery clinics and costs? Check out our guide here

How does the public and private health systems handle major eye surgery?

• Public system
• Private system

What should I look for when comparing insurance policies?

When comparing health insurance policies for major eye surgery, or for that matter any type of medical service, you should be aware of the terms and conditions, as well as the fine print stating exactly which procedures are covered.

• Exclusions. These are what the insurer will not pay a benefit for. Exclusions might be for specific procedures, such as corrective surgery, or under specific conditions, such as if you get treatment outside of Australia.
• Restrictions. These are services that are covered to a limited extent, meaning greater out-of-pocket expenses for you. Restrictions are relatively common in major eye surgery, and you may see certain policies with eye surgery restrictions at the basic level and none at the comprehensive level.
• Waiting periods. This is the minimum amount of time you must wait between taking out a policy and claiming benefits with it. For in-hospital major eye surgery this is typically two months, while for extras corrective eye surgery it is usually about 12 months.
• Excess. This is a fee you must pay when claiming benefits. Not all health insurance policies include excesses, but some do. You may be able to opt for a higher excess and lower premiums, or a lower excess and higher premiums. It’s good to make sure that your excess is not so high as to prevent you from making any claims.
• Limits. All private health funds have annual limits, which are the maximum amount you can claim in benefits per year. There might be more than one applicable limit. For example, you might have a policy that lets you claim a maximum of $1,000 per year for all hospital surgery, or $1,000 for all eye surgeries. Limits will always apply so make sure to read your policy’s product disclosure statement closely.

When determining which eye surgeries are covered by your private health insurance policy, you should look for terminology including:

• Corrective surgery, refractive surgery or laser eye surgery. These are all different ways of reshaping the lens to correct vision and remove the need to wear glasses. Depending on the nature of your impaired vision, a different corrective procedure might be undertaken. These procedures vary in cost, and it is possible that only some will be covered by either your hospital or extras policy.
• Major eye surgery. This encompasses a wide variety of surgical procedures undertaken for the purpose of fixing medical issues, such as glaucoma, rather than simply correcting vision. Each insurer may have their own definition of major eye surgery. Some will pay for any major eye procedure recommended by an ophthalmologist, others will only cover specific treatments or parts of the eye.

Compare health insurance for major eye surgery

When you get your quotes, just click refine search and then choose major eye surgery under hospital cover and optical under extras cover to view the range of cover available to you.