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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.
*Quotes are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 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.
Basic Plus Hospital cover: This gives access to basic care as a private patient. It includes treatment in the event of an accident, plus other inpatient services including the removal of tonsils, adenoids and the appendix. It's also good for avoiding the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS).
Bronze Hospital cover: This covers all 18 necessary treatments to qualify for a bronze rating. That includes:
Brain and nervous system
Eye (not cataracts)
Ear, nose and throat
Bronze Plus Hospital cover: This covers all 18 bronze treatments plus 5 additional treatments. It costs around $18 per week and cover includes:
Lung and chest
Blood
Diabetes management (excluding insulin pumps)
Silver Hospital cover: This high-level of cover costs around $23 a week with exclusions for a small number of procedures. It can cover treatments such as:
Hospital dental surgery*
Podiatric surgery (provided by a registered podiatric surgeon)
Implantation of hearing devices
Silver Plus Hospital cover: This is a very comprehensive policy covering 32 clinical categories and costing around $32 per week. It's good for completed families. It can cover you for:
Pain management with device
Sleep studies
Joint replacements
Gold Top Hospital cover: HIF's most comprehensive policy costs around $39 per week and covers all 38 clinical categories including:
Dialysis for chronic kidney failure
Pregnancy and birth
Assisted reproductive services
*Note that hospital dental surgery can cover theatre, accommodation and anaesthetist costs for surgery done by a dentist as an inpatient. General dental costs will require an additional extras policy.
Extras coverage
Extras
Basic Extras. This provides 50% back on things like general dental, emergency ambulance, chiro, osteo and physio. There's no cover for non-PBS pharmaceuticals.
Value Extras. Get cover for things like general dental, physio, optical, ambulance, chiro, non-PBS pharmaceuticals, flu shots, emergency and non-emergence ambulance cover and up to $100 on complementary therapies like acupuncture.
Simple Extras. This provides 60% back or more on your annual limits for the covers listed above as well as things like major dental.
Essential Extras. Standout features include a flexible combined annual limit of $400 per person for physio, chiro, osteo, podiatry and dietetics. Plus, it's possible to combine your dental limit for as much as $1,250 annually.
Advanced Extras. Covers more than 20 services including dental, physio, chiro, podiatry and psychology. Optical limits are up to $275 per person per year.
Top Extras. Additional cover includes much higher benefits and no limits for treatments such as general dental. For customers who require regular extra services, this option is useful as it covers all treatments with the highest benefits.
Combined coverage
You can combine any of HIF's hospital and extras policies. It also offers options for visitors to Australia which provides non-Australian residents visa-compliant cover.
Ambulance coverage
Ambulance cover is included in all HIF extras policies. It covers 100% of emergency callouts and transportation costs, while non-emergency call-outs and transportation attract a $50 co-payment.
HIF health insurance complaints
We looked at the 2020 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 highest complaints ratio of all the 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. HIF health fund is 17th 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:
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
HIF frequently asked questions
Yes, HIF is a national not-for-profit health fund, based in Perth. You don't need to be from Western Australia to be covered by HIF.
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.
Dependents can stay on family membership until their 21st birthday. After this they can stay on the family membership longer if they are full time students and are not married or in a de-facto relationship.
No. HIF does not offer any overseas student health cover (OSHC) policies.
Yes. HIF offers OVHC policies for working visa and non-working visa holders. Working visa holders can choose from Basic Working Visa, Essential Working Visa, Intermediate Working Visa or Comprehensive Working Visa.
Gary Hunter is a writer at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, health, travel, home and pet insurance for over three years, has pored over hundreds of product disclosure statements and written more than 500 insurance articles. Gary holds a Tier 1 General Insurance (General Advice) certification and is passionate about helping Aussies understand their policies so that they can get better value for their money.
If you need to find out what your current coverage is with HIF, you may need to contact them directly to be assisted. You may also check on your insurance certificate to know more on what coverage policy you have taken with HIF. Please contact HIF from a landline by dialing 1300 134 060, or for mobile phones please phone (08) 9227 4200 (standard call charges will apply). HIF customer support is open Monday to Friday at the following times across the country: 6:30am – 5:30pm WA. Hope this helps!
I am a member of over 50 years and would like Bowen therapy added to the claim list as we do not use our physio allotment since having Bowen.
Has this question been asked before?
You have contacted finder.com.au, a comparison and information service and not actually HIF Health Insurance.
You will need to contact HIF Health insurance directly to see if they intend on adding cover for Bowen Technique in the near future. If not, the Bowen Association of Australia has a list on their website of all health funds that cover that treatment.
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I would like to know what my cover is so I can add my detail to the form to submit to Dr Simon Smith please. Cheers David
Hi David,
Thank you for leaving a question.
If you need to find out what your current coverage is with HIF, you may need to contact them directly to be assisted. You may also check on your insurance certificate to know more on what coverage policy you have taken with HIF. Please contact HIF from a landline by dialing 1300 134 060, or for mobile phones please phone (08) 9227 4200 (standard call charges will apply). HIF customer support is open Monday to Friday at the following times across the country: 6:30am – 5:30pm WA. Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Reggie
I am a member of over 50 years and would like Bowen therapy added to the claim list as we do not use our physio allotment since having Bowen.
Has this question been asked before?
Hi Gary,
Thank you for your question.
You have contacted finder.com.au, a comparison and information service and not actually HIF Health Insurance.
You will need to contact HIF Health insurance directly to see if they intend on adding cover for Bowen Technique in the near future. If not, the Bowen Association of Australia has a list on their website of all health funds that cover that treatment.
All the best,
Zubair