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Australian Unity is a national healthcare, financial services and retirement living organisation that provides its services to more than half a million Australians. It's great for mixing and matching policies, and has a no-gap dental network too.
Australian Unity Health Insurance was established in 1840 in response to growing community needs that were not being met. Their aims today are to continue to find and help support the health and financial needs of the community, including both regional and urban areas.
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 not pre existing). Most extras policies have between 2 and 12 month waiting periods.
With Australian Unity, there are five different hospital and extras policies available for you to choose from. You'll be able to get cover for the services included in these policies when you sign up, subject to any waiting periods you might need to serve.
Australian Unity offers 6 different hospital policies:
Australian Unity's standalone extras covers include Basic Extras, Standard Extras, Intermediate Extras, Comprehensive Extras, Classic Extras and Advanced 80%.
Australian Health Unity offers a range of combined policies that include both hospital and extras cover packaged together. Some of these are simply two of the standalone policies brought together. Others include bespoke hospital and extras policies that differ slightly from the standalone types mentioned above. These are outlined below.
The new classification system - Gold, Silver, Bronze and Basic - introduced by the Australian government on April 1 2019 means that Australian Unity have created a range of new policy options. Their Standard Hospital (Bronze Plus), Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus) and Advanced Hospital (Silver Plus) all exceed the minimum standards set out by the government. That's why they are all classed as 'plus' categories.
There are a range of offers and perks available for Australian Unity members including:
The claims process for Australian Unity varies depending on the type of service you need to claim.
If you need to make an extras claim you can do so in the following ways:
If you're planning on visiting or working in Australia, Australian Unity have options available to make sure you get the right level of health insurance as part of your visa requirements.
Find out how much dentures cost in Australia and how you can get cover with mid-level health insurance.
Find out how to get cheap health insurance for young people.
Have a safe stay on your next Australian getaway with these hotel health and safety measures.
Finder research shows that Australians have just under one week to beat the health insurance price increase on 1 October.
Winner, finalists and methodology for Finder Awards 2020 Best Health Insurance - Bronze (Hospital).
Winner, finalists and methodology for Finder Awards 2020 Best Health Insurance - Silver (Hospital).
Planned price hikes were paused in April due to COVID. Now, they're back on.
There's still time to get your health insurance sorted and prevent an unnecessary fee down the line.
Over 31s and high earners could be in for an unpleasant surprise if they don't act now.
Thousands of young Australians only have one week left to take out health insurance to avoid the Lifetime Health Cover Loading penalty, according to new research by Finder, Australia's most visited comparison site.Â
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I need an affordable health insurance for my husband who needs mini plates removed from his eye socket. Can’t have a long waiting period and he is a disability pensioner, what would you suggest.
Hi Charmaine,
Thanks for getting in touch with Finder! To check and compare health providers for eye surgery, please refer to this page. For in-hospital major eye surgery this is typically two months, while for extras corrective eye surgery it is usually about 12 months. There is no private health insurance policy offered by any Australian fund that does not have waiting periods as a standard feature. Regardless of whether you choose hospital or extras cover, waiting periods usually apply to the benefits provided by your policy.
However, this page explains how you can waive waiting periods since health funds do offer special promotions where they will waive the waiting periods on extras services to attract new members. In these cases, you are able to claim for relevant services as soon as your membership begins. These deals are especially common around the March switching period and during the lead up to the end of financial year.
As a friendly reminder, carefully review the Product Disclosure Statement of the product before applying. You may also contact the insurance provider should you have any questions about their policy.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Nikki
Hi there
I am staying at Perth under visa category Sub-class 489 (Family sponsor), Currently I am working as civil engineer in perth too. I am looking for couple health insurance to cover everything, Can you help me on this.
Regards
Muhammad
Hi Muhammad,
Thank you for your question.
You have contacted finder.com.au, a comparison and information service and not actually Australian Unity Health Insurance.
Australian Unity does provide cover for 489 visas, in order to apply for a cover, please head to our health insurance for 489 visa holders page.
All the best,
Zubair
Is LHC paid monthly or just on joining
Hi Annette,
Thanks for getting in touch. The LHC is a 2% loading applied to your premiums if you’ve not taken out cover by 1 July following your 31st birthday and this loading remains in affect until you’ve held hospital cover for 10 consecutive years. This 2% loading on your insurance premium increases for every year you are aged over 30 (e.g. at age 40 you will pay 20% more, at age 50 you’ll pay 40% more and so on). For more information, please consult our guide to the LHC.
I hope this was helpful,
Richard
does my extras cover podiatry
Hi Barry,
Thanks for getting in touch. It will depend on your extras policy. Both Gold and Silver Extras from Australian Unity provide a $300 (excludes orthotics) and $350 benefit for podiatry respectively.
All the best,
Richard
can you please confirm that you will be continuing my 410 visa policy and that of my partner.
Thank you
Hi Derick,
Thanks for your question. finder.com.au is a comparison service and not an insurer. If you would like to speak with Australian Unity, you can do so by calling 13 29 39.
All the best,
Richard