Australian Unity Health Insurance

Australian Unity is a national healthcare, financial services and retirement living organisation that provides its services to more than half a million Australians. Australian Unity have been in the industry for over 175 years and offer a variety of health insurance services.

Who is Australian Unity Health Insurance?

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.

What health insurance options are available?

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.

Hospital only cover

Australian Unity offers five different hospital policies:

• Simple Hospital (Basic Plus). Features include hospital cover for accidents and ambulance.
• Standard Hospital (Bronze Plus). Cover includes the 18 clinical categories required for a Bronze rating as well as some added perks.
• Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus). This product covers the 26 clinical categories required for a Silver rating and more.
• Advanced Hospital (Silver Plus). Includes eye (not cataracts), joint replacements and pregnancy and birth.
• Ultimate Hospital (Gold). This policy includes all 38 clinical categories required for a Gold rating.

Extras only cover

Australian Unity's standalone extras covers include Basic Extras, Standard Extras, Intermediate Extras, Classic Extras and Advanced 80%.

• Basic Extras. Basic Extras covers up to $950 per year on extras including general and preventative dental, optical, physio, chiro, osteo, remedial massage, pharmacy and travel vaccinations.
• Standard Extras. This policy provides up to $1,200 per year for the most common extras including general and preventative dental, physio, chiro, osteo and remedial massage, and crowns, bridges and dentures.
• Intermediate Extras. This policy allows you to claim up to $3,400 per person and offers cover for a broad range of services.
• Classic Extras. This high level extras option covers you for a broad range of extras and will allow you to claim back up to $6,730 per person.
• Advanced 80%. This policy entitles you to 80% back on all included extras and offers the highest limits of all the extras policies with cover for up to $8,500.

Combined hospital and extras

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 cover that differs slightly from the standalone policies mentioned above.

Policies that combine standalone hospital and extras policies:

• Simple Hospital and Basic Extras. This is simply the standalone Simple Hospital policy combined with the standalone Basic Extras policy.
• Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus) and Standard Extras. This is the standalone Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus) policy combined with the standalone Standard Extras policy.
• Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus) and Intermediate Extras. This is the standalone Intermediate Hospital (Silver Plus) policy combined with the standalone Intermediate Extras policy.
• Classic Hospital and Classic Extras. This is the standalone Classic Hospital policy combined with the standalone Classic Extras policy.
• Ultimate Hospital (Gold) and Advanced 80%. This is the standalone Ultimate Hospital (Gold) policy combined with the standalone Advanced 80% policy.

Policies that combine hospital cover and extras cover that you can't buy individually:

• Simple Saver. This policy combines a hospital policy and an extras policy that you can't buy on their own. The hospital cover is very similar to the Simple Hospital policy and the extras cover offers a little bit more therapies cover than the Basic Extras policy.
• Smart Start. The hospital cover sits between that of the Simple Hospital and Standard Hospital, while the extras is closer to the Classic Extras policy. This makes it ideal for someone young and healthy that doesn't need a lot of hospital cover but wants a decent amount of dental and optical cover.
• Starter Classic Combination. This lets you claim up to $1500 on extras per person, per year and comes with hospital services including joint reconstructions. It excludes things that you may not need such as pregnancy and heart-related services so you can save cash.
• Top Choice. The hospital cover on this policy is basically the Advanced Hospital policy without cover for pregnancy, weight loss surgery and assisted reproductive services. It combines this with an extras policy that is similar to the Intermediate Extras policy.

Member offers

There are a range of offers and perks available for Australian Unity members including:

• Up to 100% back on preventative dental with treatments including x-rays and custom mouthguards.
• Unlike some health providers, with Australian Unity you can keep seeing your favourite providers, from your dentist to physiotherapist.
• Many of Australian Unity's health covers offer Preventative Health Services to help you stay fit and healthy, including fitness training, weight loss and quit smoking programs.

How to make a claim

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:

• On the spot. You can swipe your Australian Unity membership card on the spot by using your health care provider's HICAPS or CSC machine.
• Via the Australian Unity app. Australian Unity's mobile claiming app allows you to upload photos of your receipts to claim up to $300 at a time. The app is available from the App Store and Google Play.
• Online. You can log into your Australian Unity online account to submit your claim.
• Over the phone. You can call Australian Unity on 1800 807 144 to get your claim processed over the phone.
• By mail, email or fax. The final option is to download a health cover claim form from the Australian Unity website, complete the form, attach your receipts and send everything off to the postal address, email address or fax number listed on the form

Overseas visitors or Students

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.