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HIF health insurance review

HIF health insurance review: ethical and affordable cover with lots of benefits and 6 Extras plans to choose from.

Gary Ross Hunter

Updated

Sep 12, 2023

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Pros

HIF is a not-for-profit, member-owned health fund, so profits go back to members.
It's good for the environment and is Australia's first carbon-neutral health fund.
HIF supports a number of progressive causes, including St John Giving, MarriageEquality.org and the Amanda Young Foundation.
It's one of a handful of insurers that allow its members to choose their healthcare provider.

Cons

At around $63.63 a month for a basic hospital policy, it's around the same price as other health funds, only slightly more expensive than ahm and Frank at $71.55.
HIF doesn't have physical branches, aside from the head office in Perth. If you're outside of Perth, all operations will be handled online or over the phone.

Green Health Insurer of the Year 2022

As part of the Finder Green Awards, we're delighted to announce HIF as our first ever Green Health Insurer of the Year. HIF should be commended for its strong carbon offsetting program and low overall emissions.

Good value HIF policies

These are some good value hospital policies from HIF, one each from the Basic, Bronze and Silver tiers.

Top Pick for

Basic Hospital

HIF Basic Plus Hospital

Top Pick for

Bronze Hospital

HIF Bronze Plus Hospital

Top Pick for

Silver Hospital

HIF Silver Plus Hospital

*Quotes are based on a single individual with less than $93,000 income, $750 excess and living in WA.

HIF health insurance: Our verdict

HIF is national, unrestricted not-for-profit health fund based in Perth. It has a strong focus on supporting progressive causes, in addition to providing good value health insurance products.

HIF is good if:

You want a not-for-profit health fund offering a good range of products.
You want to support progressive social programs - HIF is Australia's first Carbon Neutral health fund and supports groups like Australian Marriage Equality.

HIF is not great if:

You prefer physical branches, but live outside of Perth.

_{Review by our insurance and innovations editor Gary Ross Hunter}

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What types of health insurance does HIF offer?

Hospital
Extras

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HIF health insurance complaints

We looked at the 2022 Ombudsman health insurance complaints among funds with at least a 0.5% national market share.

It had a higher complaints ratio than its market share.
It had the third highest complaints ratio of the 19 health funds in this list.

This chart shows the weighted volume of complaints received by each health fund, according to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The lower the number, the better. Only non-restricted funds with a national market share of at least 0.1% are included here. HIF is seventeenth overall in this ranking. The weighting ensures that funds are compared fairly; larger funds serve more customers so can potentially get more complaints.

How many hospital agreements does HIF have in my state?

If you receive hospital treatment in Australia, the benefit paid by your health fund depends on two main factors:

The level of health insurance cover you have in place
Whether your health fund has an agreement with the hospital where you are treated

The table below features a full list of the number of hospital agreements HIF has in place in each Australian state and territory. The industry maximum figure for all health funds is also included as a guide.

State	Private hospital agreements	Day hospital agreements
NSW	95	91
ACT	5	8
VIC	76	72
QLD	50	51
SA	26	27
WA	21	23
TAS	8	4
NT	2	1

Why you can trust Finder's health insurance experts

We're free

Our health insurance engine is completely free to use. You pay the same as buying directly from the health insurer. Better still, we regularly run exclusive deals that you won't find on any other site.

We're experts

We've researched and rated hundreds of policies as part of our Finder Awards. We've published 250+ guides and our in-house experts regularly appear on Sunrise, 7News and SBS News.

We're independent

Unlike other comparison sites, we're not owned by an insurer. That means our opinions are our own and you can compare nearly every health fund in Australia on the site (and find a better deal).

HIF frequently asked questions

If you need to make an extras claim with HIF, there are several ways to submit your claim:
- On the spot. Healthcare providers with electronic claiming technology ((HICAPS or iSOFT)" can settle your account with you on the spot. All you need to do is swipe your HIF membership card and pay the difference (if any).
- Online. HIF's Online Member Centre gives you access to a range of services to help manage your policy including lodging an Extras claim online. Even better, you'll instantly see the estimated benefit payable! Before you get started, you'll just need to ensure that your provider's fees are paid in full before uploading receipts.
- On your mobile. Submit Extras claims anytime, anywhere, with their easy-to-use mobile App. It's fast, free and reduces paper waste. HIF's Member App also allows Members to update their contact details, view their policy information and claims history, order replacement membership cards, contact HIF and more.
- By email. For paid Extras accounts, simply email a scan of your completed HIF claim form and associated receipts to claims@hif.com.au
- By post. Complete an HIF claim form and post it to: HIF, GPO Box X2221, Perth WA 6847.

Thank you for your feedback!

Gary Ross Hunter

Gary Ross Hunter is an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146).

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HIF health insurance review