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Australian Unity health insurance review

Our verdict: Australian Unity health insurance is good if you want flexible cover options and help at home, but not if you just want a basic extras policy.

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By

Gary Ross Hunter

Updated

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Pros

  • Australian Unity is good if you want to tailor a policy to your needs – it has over 18 options to choose from.
  • Some policies come with a few perks that others aren't offering, like hospital care at home and rehabilitation at home.
  • 92% of hospital treatments have no gap payments – more than most of the market.

Cons

  • At around $29 a month, Australian Unity's basic extras policy – Base Extras (BAE) – isn't market-leading; brands such as ahm, HCF, Frank and People Care are likely to cost you less.
  • Of Australia's 19 largest health funds, Australian Unity had the 2nd most ombudsman complaints compared to market share.

Congratulations, Australian Unity!

Australian Unity received the higly commended award for 'Health Insurance' in the 2023 Customer Satisfaction Awards.

Full list of 2023 winners

Australian Unity health insurance: Our verdict

Australian Unity is member-owned, so it invests in products and services that matter to its customers. It's been around for over 180 years and is Australia's 6th biggest health insurer by market share.

Australian Unity is good if:

  • You want lots of options.
  • You're growing your family and want great-value gold cover.
  • You want extra perks, like hospital care at home.

Australian Unity is not great if:

  • You want a cheap basic extras policy.
  • You're overwhelmed by lots of choices.

Review by our insurance and innovations editor Gary Ross Hunter.

What types of health insurance does Australian Unity offer?

1 - 6 of 6
Updated regularly
Name Product Treatments Price Apply Hide Compare
Care 'n Repair (Basic Plus)
Basic Plus$500 excess
Hospital
  • Rehabilitation
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Dental surgery
  • Hernia and appendix
Extras
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Hearing aids
    • +4 other treatments covered
$98.16
per month
All treatments
Care 'n Repair (Basic Plus)
Basic Plus$750 excess
Hospital
  • Rehabilitation
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Dental surgery
  • Hernia and appendix
Extras
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Hearing aids
    • +4 other treatments covered
$88.55
per month
All treatments
Midpoint Hospital (Silver Plus) + Active Extras (ACE)
Silver Plus$500 excess
Hospital
  • Lung and chest
  • Back neck and spine
  • Cataracts
  • Joint replacements
    • +27 other treatments covered
Extras
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Hearing aids
    • +10 other treatments covered
$195.04
per month
All treatments
Essential Choice (Bronze Plus)
Bronze Plus$750 excess
Hospital
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
    • +20 other treatments covered
Extras
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Hearing aids
    • +7 other treatments covered
$134.27
per month
All treatments
Essential Choice (Bronze Plus)
Bronze Plus$500 excess
Hospital
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
    • +20 other treatments covered
Extras
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Hearing aids
    • +7 other treatments covered
$147.50
per month
All treatments
Midpoint Hospital (Silver Plus) + Active Extras (ACE)
Silver Plus$750 excess
Hospital
  • Lung and chest
  • Back neck and spine
  • Cataracts
  • Joint replacements
    • +27 other treatments covered
Extras
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Hearing aids
    • +10 other treatments covered
$188.67
per month
All treatments
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Name Product Treatments Price Apply Hide Compare
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1 - 3 of 3
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Name Product Treatments Price Apply Hide Compare
Prime Extras (PRE)
Extras cover
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial Massage
  • Hearing aids
    • +6 other treatments covered
$83.31
per month
All treatments
Active Extras (ACE)
Extras cover
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial Massage
  • Hearing aids
    • +6 other treatments covered
$64.35
per month
All treatments
Mid Extras (MIE)
Extras cover
  • General Dental
  • Major Dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial Massage
  • Hearing aids
    • +3 other treatments covered
$47.04
per month
All treatments
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What types of health insurance does Australian Unity offer?

Hospital
Extras
Combined
Ambulance

Hospital icon

Hospital Coverage

Generally, you will have to wait 12 months before you can get access to the services included in your hospital cover policy (or 2 months if it's not pre-existing). Most extras policies have between 2- and 12-month waiting periods.

Australian Unity offers eight different hospital policies:

  • Simple Hospital (Basic Plus). Includes hospital cover for accidents and emergency ambulance transport, as well as dental surgery, hernia and appendix, joint reconstructions and tonsils, adenoids and grommets.
  • Core Hospital (Bronze Plus). Covers the 18 clinical categories required for a Bronze rating, plus six additional categories. Gap cover is also included along with some preventative health services and support programs.
  • Standard Hospital (Bronze Plus).Covers 25 clinical categories, including medically necessary plastic surgery. Gap cover is also included, as well as health services such as mammogram screening and bone density scans.
  • Midpoint Hospital (Silver Plus). Covers the 28 clinical categories required for a Silver rating, plus sleep studies. Gap cover and extra health services also included.
  • Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus). Covers 31 clinical categories, including the heart and vascular system .Gap cover, preventative health services and support programs also included.
  • Value Hospital (Silver Plus, with $100 daily co-payment). Covers 34 clinical categories, including cataracts and joint replacements, plus gap cover and additional health services. Excesses and co-payments help with premium affordability.
  • Classic Hospital (Silver Plus). Covers 34 health categories, only excluding assisted reproductive services, dialisis, pregnancy and birth, and weight loss surgery. Gap cover and additional health services included.
  • Complete Hospital (Gold, with $100 daily co-payment). Covers all 38 clinical health categories required for a Gold rating, plus a range of perks. An excess and daily co-payment for hospital admissions helps keep premiums down.

Extras icon

Extras coverage

Australian Unity's standalone extras covers include Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras and Prime Extras.

  • Base Extras. Covers up to $1,150 per year on extras including general and preventative dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropractic services, osteopathy, remedial massage and travel vaccinations.
  • Mid Extras. This policy provides up to $2,400 per year for the most common extras including general and preventative dental, physiotherapy, chiropractic services, osteopathy and remedial massage, and crowns, bridges and dentures.
  • Active Extras. This policy allows you to claim up to $5,750 per year for most extras services, including psychology and blood glucose and blood pressure monitors.
  • Prime Extras. This high level extras option covers you for a broad range of extras and will allow you to claim back up to $8,750 in the first year.

Clipboard icon

Combined coverage

Australian Unity offers four specifically-designed combined policies.

  • Care 'n' Repair (Basic Plus). Low-level cover designed with the young and healthy in mind. Includes cover for accidents, ambulance transport, and preventative dental care.
  • Simple Saver (Basic Plus). This goes a little further than a basic policy. It could be good if you're relatively healthy, are looking to avoid the MLS and want some basic extras cover like dental treatment.
  • Essential Choice (Bronze Plus). A decent range of hospital essentials such as chemotherapy, kidney and bladder, and sleep studies. Extras cover includes dental, optical and physio.
  • Advantage Choice Combination (Silver Plus). Mid-level cover including joint reconstructions and the heart and vascular system plus extras such as major dental, podiatry and physio.
  • Top Choice (Silver Plus). Comprehensive cover for a wide range of procedures and extras.

In addition to specifically-designed combination policies, Australian Unity gives customers the flexibility to mix and match any hospital and extras policies. This gives you a further 28 possible combinations to choose from:

Simple Hospital (Basic Plus) with Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras
Core Hospital (Bronze Plus) with Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras
Standard Hospital (Bronze Plus) with Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras
Midpoint Hospital (Silver Plus with Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras
Value Hospital (Silver Plus) with $100 daily co-pay and Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras
Classic Hospital (Silver Plus) with Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras
Complete Hospital (Gold) with $100 daily co-payment and Base Extras, Mid Extras, Active Extras or Prime Extras

Ambulance icon

Ambulance coverage

All Australian Unity insurance policies include cover for emergency ambulance transportation unless you live in Queensland or Tasmania – it's already free in these states.

Australian Unity health insurance complaints

We looked at the 2022 Ombudsman health insurance complaints to see how Australian Unity performed.

  • It had the 2nd highest number of complaints compared to market share (of funds with at least a 0.5% market share).
  • Australian Unity has a smaller complaints ratio than Health.com.au, HCF and AIA Health.
This chart shows the weighted volume of complaints received by each health fund, according to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The lower the number, the better. Only non-restricted funds with a national market share of at least 0.1% are included here. Australian Unity is eighteenth overall in this ranking. The weighting ensures that funds are compared fairly; larger funds serve more customers so can potentially get more complaints.

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