Best extras cover Australia

Finding the best extras cover

Best extras health insurance policies

• Best core extras health insurance: Extras Saver
• Best medium extras health insurance: value extras
• Best comprehensive extras health insurance: Family Extras

Extras price	Treatments
Best core extras health insurance
Extras Saver Extras cover	From $3.02/week	General dental Major dental Optical Physiotherapy Chiropractic Psychology Remedial massage Hearing aids	View details Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it A great, no fuss, basic extras policy that covers general dental and emergency ambulance. If you don't think you'll need any extras treatment outside the ol' pearly whites, this is a great option to consider. Bupa's Extras Saver took out the 2025 Finder Award for Core Extras Health Insurance. This policy offers outstanding value for those essential, frequently used extras services, making it a true standout for managing everyday health costs. Pros & cons Pros No gap on two 6-monthly clean and check-ups each year with a Bupa partner dentist, claimable outside your normal yearly benefit limits. Unlimited emergency ambulance cover. 100% back on general fillings with a Bupa partner dentist, up to yearly benefit limits. Cons Only covers dental and ambulance, nothing else. The best deal on dentistry requires you to use a Bupa partner dentist.
Best medium extras health insurance
value extras Extras cover	From $8.39/week	General dental Major dental Optical Physiotherapy Chiropractic Psychology Remedial massage Hearing aids +3 other treatments covered	Intro offer: Get up to 8 weeks free when you join by 30 Jun 2026. For new joins on eligible extras. T&Cs apply.	Go to SiteView details Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it A really nice mid-tier extras policy that will cover a range of useful treatments like dental, physio and optical. Optical in particular is a standout, this policy will score you a free pair of glasses each year (up to your benefit limits). Doesn't cover more complex treatments, but if that's not an issue, this is a great value policy to consider. ahm claimed the 2025 Finder Award for Medium Extras Health Insurance with its value extras policy. This policy achieves a fantastic balance between cost and coverage, offering a strong suite of benefits for those mid-range extras services. Pros & cons Pros 100% back on optical, up to yearly benefit limits No gap dental check-ups at partner dentists Unlimited emergency ambulance Cons No major dental, though that's not uncommon at this price point
Best comprehensive extras health insurance
Family Extras Extras cover	From $16.37/week	General dental Major dental Optical Physiotherapy Chiropractic Psychology Remedial massage Hearing aids +5 other treatments covered	Intro offer: Get up to 8 weeks free when you join by 30 Jun 2026. For new joins on eligible extras. T&Cs apply.	Go to SiteView details Compare product selection Compare	loading	Why we like it A really solid policy from ahm. Along with the lifestyle and super extras, family extras has no 2 or 6 month waiting periods baked into the policy, even without any special sign-up offers. Great value cover for a range of treatments, including major dental and braces. If you're a family with young teenagers, have a look at this one! ahm's Family Extras policy is the 2025 Comprehensive Extras Health Insurance award winner. Providing expansive coverage across a vast array of extras services, it offers truly thorough protection designed with families in mind, earning it the top spot. Pros & cons Pros No 2 or 6 month waiting periods, so you can start claiming right away. 100% back on optical, up to yearly benefit limits. No gap dental check-ups at partner dentists. Cover for complex treatments like major dental, orthodontics, hearing aids and laser eye surgery. Cons Not much really. It might be more cover than some people need, but that's about it.

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What is extras cover, and how is it different from hospital cover?

Private health insurance in Australia comes in two types, and it helps to understand what each one does before you buy:

• Hospital cover is what protects you if you're admitted as a private patient. It can help cover the cost of accommodation, surgery, theatre fees and in-hospital treatment. If you don't have private health insurance and you need treatment in a hospital, you'll be treated as a public patient, which means you go on the public waiting list and have no choice over your doctor.
• Extras cover helps pay for out-of-hospital health services that Medicare simply doesn't cover. This means things like dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropractic, remedial massage, psychology and speech therapy.

Hospital and extras cover are sold separately and you don't have to purchase both. You can hold hospital-only cover, extras-only cover or a combined policy that bundles both together.

Annual limits and waiting periods: how to make your cover work for you

Annual limits and waiting periods are the two features of extras cover that catch people out most often. Understanding how they work before you join, not after you try to claim, can save you a lot of frustration.

Policy limits

Not all health funds structure their limits in the same way. Here are some of the most common limit types you might come across during your search:

A per-service limit gives each type of treatment its own separate annual cap. For example, you might have $500 for dental, $300 for optical, and $400 for physiotherapy — each ring-fenced from the others. If you use your full dental limit, your optical and physio limits are unaffected.

A combined limit pools multiple services under one shared annual cap. If your policy groups major dental, general dental and endodontic services together, you'll only have a set amount to use across all those services. This can work in your favour if you only need one of those services heavily in a given year, but it also means one big dental bill can wipe out your limit for everything else in that group.

Many policies also have sub-limits sitting inside a broader category. For example, a $1,200 annual limit for major dental services, but a sub-limit of $550 for dentures. These are easy to miss when comparing policies, but they can significantly affect how much you actually get back.

Finally, some services carry lifetime limits rather than annual ones. Lifetime limits carry across providers where if you reach your lifetime limit with one fund, it won't reset if you switch to another. Orthodontics is the most common example, with most funds setting a lifetime cap regardless of how many years you hold cover.

Waiting periods

When you take out a new extras policy, you'll generally need to serve a waiting period before you can claim. Fortunately, most funds tend to follow a similar structure with their waiting periods:

• General dental (check-ups, cleans, fillings and x-rays): typically 2 months
• Optical (glasses or contact lenses): typically 2 months, though some funds require up to 6 months
• Physiotherapy, chiropractic or osteopathy: typically 2 months
• Psychology and other specialist therapies: typically 2 months
• Major dental (crowns, bridges, dentures, root canals): typically 6–12 months
• Orthodontics: typically 12 months
• Hearing aids: typically 12–36 months

How to get the most out of your extras health insurance?

"The best way to get the most out of your extras insurance is to use it! I like to think of extras cover a bit like those big coupon books you used to buy in school fundraisers (showing my age much?). If you paid $50 for the coupon book, you needed to get at least $50 worth of savings to make it worthwhile. For extras, that might mean 2 dental check-ups, a new pair of glasses and seeing the physio a few times every year. On mid-tier policies, even that could be getting close to your yearly premiums."

Tim Bennett

Insurance expert

How to choose the right extras cover for you

The biggest mistake people make with extras is buying based on what sounds good rather than what they'll actually use. A policy covering 20 services is only good value if you're going to use close to all of them.

• Start with what you spent last year. Look back at what you paid out of pocket over the past 12 months. That's your baseline. If your likely annual claims don't exceed the cost of premiums, extras may not be worth it at your current tier.
• Match the tier to your usage. Basic policies suit people who mainly want cover for routine dental check-ups and glasses. Mid-tier policies include health services like physio, chiropractic and psychology, which can be great if you see these providers regularly. Comprehensive policies make the most sense for families (especially with kids who may need orthodontics) or anyone with significant recurring health costs.
• Compare limits, not just services. Two policies that both list "physiotherapy" can have very different annual limits, so it's worth always checking the actual dollar limits for the services you care about most.
• Check your provider network. Many funds offer 100% back when you visit providers in their preferred network. If your regular dentist or physio isn't in-network, you'll likely get less back than the headline benefit suggests.
• Think about waiting periods. Most services have a 2-month wait, major dental is 6–12 months and orthodontics is almost always 12 months. Some funds periodically waive the shorter waiting periods for new members, which is worth looking out for if timing is important.
• Reassess every year. Your needs change and so do the policies on the market. If you're consistently not hitting your limits, consider downgrading your cover. If you're regularly paying the gap, it may be worth stepping up.

Frequently asked questions

• What is the best extras health insurance policy in Australia?

  Nice try! There is no 'best' extras policy in Australia. Everyone has different needs, and so everyone will have a different extras policy that suits them the best. That being said, the Finder health insurance awards found these 3 to be particular standouts with regard to value for money.

  • Best Core Extras Health Insurance: Bupa Extras Saver
  • Best Medium Extras Health Insurance: ahm value extras
  • Best Comprehensive Extras Health Insurance: ahm Family Extras

• What does extras health insurance cover?

  Extras cover helps pay for medical care that's not covered by Medicare. These treatments are usually done out-of-hospital and include dental, physio, psychology, optical and chiropractic services. You must serve a waiting period before you can claim money back and there are annual cover limits (a cap on how much you can claim per year). Extras policies are a lot more varied than hospital insurance policies, so you're going to see a lot of different stuff you can claim, from hearing aids to sunscreen to laser eye surgery - it pays to look at your policy information!

• Do you have to pay an excess on extras health insurance?

  No, you will not need to pay an excess on extras health insurance cover. Excesses are only applicable to hospital claims.

• Is extras cover worth it?

  Only you can answer this based on your circumstances. Extras cover tends to offer fantastic value if you regularly visit the dentist, wear glasses or see allied health professionals like physios or psychologists. Families particularly benefit from extras cover, as children are effectively insured for free on a family policy and can take full advantage of covered treatments, like orthodontics. The key is to estimate your likely annual claims and compare that against the cost of premiums.

• Can I buy extras-only insurance?

  Yep! You don't need hospital cover to take out an extras-only policy. Extras-only health insurance helps pay for treatments and services that aren't subsidised through Medicare, like dental, optical and physiotherapy. That said, it's worth checking whether a combined hospital and extras policy might actually work out cheaper, as sometimes a combined policy can cost less than buying them separately.

• What's the annual limit on extras?

  Annual limits vary widely depending on your policy and the specific service. For example, annual limits for general dental range from $200 to unlimited, while orthodontics is usually treated as a separate category. Once you hit the annual limit for a service, you'll pay the full cost out of pocket until the limit resets, either on 1 January or 1 July, depending on your fund.

• Does extras cover orthodontics?

  Yes, but not all policies include it. Orthodontic cover is typically found on mid-to-top-tier extras policies and usually comes with a 12-month waiting period before you can make a claim.

• Does extras cover psychology services?

  Yes, psychology is covered by many extras policies, particularly at the mid and top levels of cover. Generally, there is a 2 month waiting period for psychology and mental health services.

• Do extras limits roll over each year?

  No, unused extras benefits typically do not carry over to the next benefit year. Once your limits reset, any unclaimed amount from the previous year is simply lost. This makes it even more important to regularly review your cover to ensure you're getting the most out of your policy. If you consistently don't use your full limits, it may be a sign you're paying for more cover than you need.

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Angus Kidman as part of our fact-checking process.

Written by

Ceyda Erem

Senior writer

Ceyda Erem is Finder’s senior writer for insurance and has almost 10 years of experience writing about personal finance. Formerly a copywriter for several business and finance clients, Ceyda has written hundreds of articles, guides, blogs and more to ensure Australians stay in the loop about how to best manage their money. She has a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Writing from Macquarie University. See full bio

Ceyda's expertise

Ceyda has written 128 Finder guides across topics including:

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