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There's no single health insurance that's best for everyone as all our needs are different - and what's best for you might not be best for someone else.
As part of the Finder Awards 2020, we scored over 1500 private health insurance hospital policies in Australia.
The table below shows the highest ranking hospital policies from Finder partners for the Silver tier - we've also added a mid level extras policy to give you a benchmark. Prices shown are for a single, with a $500 excess in Sydney. Each policy was chosen based on criteria such as the excess/co-payment amount, number of associated (agreement) hospitals, treatments covered in public or private hospitals, waiting periods and annual benefit limits.
Finding the best health insurance doesn't have to be hard but it does require you to answer a few questions. You need to work out what's most important to you. Are you:
One of the sad realities of the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) is that some people get health insurance just to avoid getting slugged with the levy, which is between 1% and 1.5% of your annual income. This leads many people just grabbing the cheapest complying hospital option.
But just because you're being "forced" to get cover doesn't mean can't find the best option that both satisfies the MLS requirements and is more than just a junk policy. I mean, if you're paying for a policy, why not get something for all that money you're spending?
The other benefit come tax time is that you can claim a tax deduction thanks to the Private Health Insurance Rebate.
So, if minimising tax is the name of the game, select the "Reduce tax and paying lower premiums" from our comparison tool and it will search through policy options from over 30 Australian health funds. All you'll need to do is choose which option is the best health insurance for you.
One of the other situations that crops up around tax time is the Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading and if you've turned 31 in the last year, is something you need to know about.
The LHC is a 2% loading that comes into effect from 1 July following your 31st birthday. Unfortunately, this loading doesn't stay at 2% but increases by that amount each year you don't have cover. So, if you wait until you're 40 to get cover, you'll end up paying an additional 20% on your premiums.
If this is the reason you're looking for cover, finding the right policy will depend on whether you just want to avoid the LHC or if you want a little extra. Use our quote comparison tool to weigh up your options so you can get the best policy at the right price. If you're just after the basics you might want to select "Basic cover with low premiums".
If you're thinking about starting a family then private health insurance is probably on your list of priorities. Private health insurance is more than just a nice to have for expectant mothers as it provides you with cover for obstetrics, private rooms and other benefits not covered by the public healthcare system. You will need to get cover in advance, as most policies will have a 12 month waiting period for pregnancy-related benefits.
If cover for pregnancy is what you need, enter your details into our tool and select "Cover for pregnancy and childbirth" and see which health insurance best suits your needs.
Don't need a policy with cover for hospital but still want to claim for benefits like dental and optical? Maybe a little massage? Hey, why not? Extras policies can be great value and cover you for items not covered by Medicare.
Finding the best extras policy is all about working out what you need covered and making sure you're getting the most out of your policy.
If you're after the best extras cover for you, select "Extras only" from our quote tool and see which extras policy fits you the best.
As you get older your situation changes and it's important to find the option that suits your changing need best. Whether you're looking to switch from a family policy to something with less coverage or looking to increase your cover for services such as cardiology, it's important to review your options.
Our quote tool can help. Since you're going to be needing higher levels of cover as you get older, selecting "Better cover" might help you find the best option for you.
However, there are a few important points to consider when choosing your health fund - including how partner networks operate, how excesses and waiting times are applied, and what out of pocket costs you should expect.
Others, including HCF, offer travel and accommodation benefits while some, such as Bupa and Medibank, are rolling out online health services and live video conferencing with medical professionals.
Private hospital cover is available in four different tiers - basic, bronze, silver, and gold - which provide increasingly comprehensive cover as you ascend through the levels.
However, this doesn't mean that all gold policies will be the same - features still vary between different policies, so it's important to compare before you buy.
For the 2020 Finder Awards, we compared 23 gold policies, 45 silver policies, and 25 bronze policies - according to our methodology, these are the funds that came out on top:
You can choose health insurance which matches the needs of you and your family - whether you're just in the planning stage, you've already got children, or you're wrangling unruly teenagers. Make sure to look out for some key features which might be particularly useful:
Extras cover is designed to help with the cost of non-hospital healthcare - so things like dental treatments, prescription glasses, and physiotherapy are usually included. Emergency ambulance transport can also fall under extras, along with psychology consultations.
There are some important factors to consider when choosing which extras cover is best for you.
For example, nib's Core and Family Extras policy doesn't include psychology treatments but Medibank's Top Extras 55 policy will pay out $200 towards psychology treatments.
For example, ahm's Lifestyle Extras cover has no waiting period on optical or routine dental. However, CUA's Classic Extras cover - which costs a similar amount - comes with a six-month wait period for optical and a two-month wait for routine dental.
The below table shows the average amount of costs covered by service:
Fund name (Open membership funds) | Dental [1] | Optical [1] | Physiotherapy | Psychology |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Unity | 46.20% | 64.80% | 62.30% | 34.20% |
BUPA | 54.30% | 56.70% | 48.90% | 42.20% |
CDH | 39.80% | 51.40% | 49.70% | 21.70% |
CUA Health | 50.50% | 60.70% | 39.30% | 35.30% |
GMHBA | 52.00% | 58.30% | 48.80% | 46.80% |
GU Corporate | 79.20% | 67.20% | 82.80% | 78.20% |
HBF | 60.80% | 59.10% | 44.10% | 42.40% |
HCF | 58.30% | 57.30% | 43.80% | 46.70% |
HCI | 53.40% | 53.60% | 44.60% | 33.70% |
health.com.au | 50.30% | 45.90% | 60.00% | 0.7% |
Health Partners | 60.30% | 53.90% | 59.20% | 32.60% |
HIF | 49.00% | 59.90% | 36.80% | 34.20% |
Latrobe | 32.60% | 54.10% | 33.20% | 33.10% |
MDHF | 61.80% | 65.40% | 43.00% | 27.30% |
Medibank (includes ahm) | 52.50% | 68.10% | 47.80% | 30.80% |
nib | 56.00% | 53.40% | 58.40% | 55.20% |
onemedifund | 58.90% | 51.80% | 53.20% | 33.80% |
Peoplecare | 49.10% | 61.60% | 40.30% | 38.50% |
Phoenix | 57.20% | 61.30% | 50.20% | 41.20% |
QCH | 52.30% | 58.70% | 46.60% | 44.30% |
St Lukes | 64.60% | 75.90% | 52.40% | 48.50% |
Transport Health | 55.50% | 58.30% | 45.60% | 29.90% |
Westfund | 54.70% | 53.60% | 50.00% | 39.30% |
[1] For some funds, the data does not take account of discounts at some providers or fund Dental / Optical centres.
Source: https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/publications/reports/state-of-the-health-funds/all-reports/docs/2018-state-of-the-health-funds-report
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*Disclaimer: The products compared on this page are chosen from a range of offers available to us and are not representative of all the products available in the market. There is no perfect order or perfect ranking system for the products we list on our Site, so we provide you with the functionality to self-select, re-order and compare products. The initial display order is influenced by a range of factors including conversion rates, product costs and commercial arrangements, so please don't interpret the listing order as an endorsement or recommendation from us. We're happy to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions, but we'd like you to make your own decisions and compare and assess products based on your own preferences, circumstances and needs.
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Which private health insurance companies offer the best reimbursement of the cost of hearing aids?
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your question.
If you would like to review the cover limits of Australian funds for hearing aids please head over to our health insurance for hearing aids article.
Cheers,
Zubair