Finder makes money from featured partners, but editorial opinions are our own.

No-gap optical

No-gap optical means you don’t pay a cent towards your new glasses. Here’s how to get it.

Who is this cover for?

No-gap optical is an attractive benefit offered by some extras health insurance policies. It means you don't have to pay anything towards your new glasses, as long as they don't cost more than your annual limit.

If you have a $200 annual limit, and your new specs also happen to cost $200, you can walk away with a fresh prescription - for free!

Not all health insurers offer no-gap optical, but we've rounded up a few with limits ranging from $100-$250 so that you can compare policies at a glance.

Compare extras only policies that cover optical

Below are a few Finder partners that cover Optical in their extras policies. We've displayed the yearly limit, and they will have either a 2 or 6 month waiting period. They also include other benefits such as dental or physiotherapy. All prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney.

1 - 10 of 73
Name and lozenges Finder Score Treatments Price
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$23.10
per month
Go to SiteView details
Frank Easy Extras
Extras cover
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$28.30
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$29.60
per month
Go to SiteView details
Basic Extras
Extras cover
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$32.18
per month
Go to SiteView details
Starter Extras
Extras cover
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$32.20
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$35.95
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
Want a $50 gift card when you join & maintain eligible Extras? Plus, get 2&6 month waits waived on extras. New members only. T&Cs apply. Excludes Healthy Living Extras.
$36.90
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
Want a $50 gift card when you join & maintain eligible Extras? Plus, get 2&6 month waits waived on extras. New members only. T&Cs apply. Excludes Healthy Living Extras.
$36.95
per month
Go to SiteView details
HCF FLEX MY EXTRAS
Extras cover
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$38.90
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$42.70
per month
Go to SiteView details
loading
Showing 10 of 73 results

Finder Score - Health Insurance Extras

Each month we analyse over 10,000 extras insurance products and rate each one on price and features. What we end up with is a nice round number out of 10 that helps you compare extras cover a bit faster.

We want to compare apples to apples, not apples to apple pie. It doesn't make sense to compare a top extras policy with coverage for hearing aids and braces against a policy designed only for dental. So we've separated all the extras policies on the market into pools and categories. Once in their pools and categories, each product gets a price score and a features score, which are then combined to give the Final Score.

Read the full Finder Score methodology

Why compare health insurance with Finder?

  • We don't ask for your phone or email to see prices.

  • With 1 click, you can open your results to nearly every fund in Australia.

  • You pay the same price as going direct – we charge no fees.

Optical services and health insurance

Extras cover is available in several levels (basic, medium and comprehensive) and generally covers ancillary services such as optical, dental and physio up to set annual benefit limits.

What is the medical gap and how do I avoid it?

If a doctor charges a higher fee than the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) fee for a service, the medical gap is the difference between the MBS fee and the doctor’s fee. This amount will have to be paid either by your health fund or by you.

In the case of optical services that are not listed on the MBS, the medical gap is the gap between what an optometrist charges for lenses and frames and what your private health extras cover will pay towards them.

To avoid having to pay any medical gap, you need to be with a health fund that has a no-gap scheme. A no-gap optical scheme is one where a health fund agrees to cover the medical gap if members go to a preferred optometrist or an optical dispenser with which the health fund has an arrangement. These practices charge capped prices that have been agreed upon with the health fund for a select range of lenses and frames.

Which health funds have a no-gap optical scheme?

Here are Finder's partner health funds that offer a no-gap optical option:

FundWhat's covered?More info
ahm health insuranceahm offers 100% back up to your annual limit on the cost of prescription glasses, frames, lenses, repairs, and contact lenses. Get quote
Australian Unity logoFor prescription glasses, contact lenses or repairs supplied by an optometrist in private practice. Excludes non-prescription sunglasses and contact lenses, and optical consultations. More info
Picture not describedCUA_logo100% Optical benefits on prescription lenses and contact lenses. More info
frank_logo_120x60Includes prescription glasses, prescription sunglasses and prescription contact lenses. Doesn't include non-prescription sunglasses, repairs or frames purchased without prescription lenses or ophthalmology appointments. Get quote
hbf_logo_315x190100% Optical benefits on frames, single vision lenses. Frames, bi-focal or multi-focal lenses and contact lenses. Get quote
HCF logoHCF offers a range of fully covered services through HCF Eyecare Centres, Dresden, or Specsavers on a range of standardd prescription glasses and one free digital retinal imaging with your eye test per calendar year. Get quote
Hif logoYou can claim 100% of your annual limit on prescription glasses, contact lenses or sunglasses from any optical provider in Australia with HIF. More info
Medibank health insurance100% back on eligible items up to annual limits at all recognised providers. Includes prescription glasses and contact lenses. Get quote
Nib LogoThrough its nib Eye Care Centres, nib offers members 100% back on three ranges of complete single vision prescription glasses and selected contact lenses (depending on your level of cover) with free delivery anywhere in Australia. Get quote
Picture not describedOptical benefits (glasses & contacts) are paid when glasses or contacts are prescribed by a registered optometrist. They have to be for sight correction and we don't pay on non-prescription sunglasses. More info
Transport Health logoTransport Health offers members 100% back on a selection of single vision, bifocal and multifocal glasses from several ranges at Specsavers (depending on your level of cover).

Table last updated April 2021

How much does health insurance cost?

We ask hundreds of Australians what they're paying for health insurance every month. Here's what their bill looked like in September 2024.
  • Extras only: $73
  • Basic: $100
  • Bronze: $153
  • Silver: $178
  • Gold: $204
Price based on 500+ responses for single hospital or extras insurance.
Richard Laycock's headshot
Editor

Richard Laycock is Finder’s insights editor after spending the last five years writing and editing articles about insurance. His musings can be found across the web including on MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University and The Missouri School of Journalism and has a Tier 1 Certification in General Advice for Life Insurance. See full bio

More guides on Finder

Go to site