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Combined hospital and extras cover
Health insurance comes in hospital and extras cover, and you can buy them as a combined policy.
Who is this cover for?
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I'm Tim, your insurance expert.
Here to help you find the right cover for you!
Step 1/2 - About your cover
Which state do you live in?
QLD
NSW
ACT
VIC
TAS
SA
WA
NT
What's your age?
Depending on your age, you may be eligible for an
aged-based discount. This is used to estimate your
rebate.
Under 65
65 - 69
70 or older
What's your household's taxable income?
This is the combined income you and your spouse earn before tax. It's needed to calculate the correct Australian government rebate.
$93,000 and under
$93,001 to $108,000
$108,001 to $144,000
$144,001 and over
What kind of health insurance do you need?
Combined (Extras + Hospitals)
Extras
Hospital
What level of hospital coverage would you like?
You can change this at any time later.
Legend
Covered
Restricted cover, You may be partially covered for
this category.
Not covered. Optional for insurer to include.
*Prices updated October 2024, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices reflect the cheapest available for a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney with a $750 excess.
What extras cover do you need? (Optional)
Select as many as you want or move to the next step
Preventative & general dental
Major dental & implants
Optical
Physiotherapy
Podiatry
Non-PBS pharmaceuticals
Chiropractic
Emergency ambulance
Remedial massage
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Combined policies include both extras and hospital cover.
Combined policies can be found from as little as around $93 a month.
When comparing combined policies, you will need to check that both the extras and hospital component it right for you.
The table below lists some combined health insurance policies from Finder partners, covering accidents, emergency ambulance, dental and more. All prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney.
Hospital cover pays for hospital treatment during illness or injury, including accommodation, surgery and other costs.
Extras only
Extras helps pays for non-hospital treatments that are not covered by Medicare, including optical, dental, physio and more.
Combined
Hospital and extras covers both types of treatment, giving you comprehensive coverage for a huge range of medical costs.
Do I need both hospital and extras cover?
Not everyone needs a combined policy, and you may not even need health insurance at all. However, there are some life stages where people generally start to think about whether they need life insurance.
If you're young and healthy, you may only need basic hospital cover, but may still want comprehensive extras, like dental and physio. If you're older, then hospital cover may be a higher priority for you. Other important differences include the following:
Earn over $90k? Not having sufficient hospital cover when your income is above a specified level attracts a Medicare Levy Surcharge, while extras does not.
Turning 31? You are charged a Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading of 2% for every year you don’t take out hospital cover after you turn 31 years of age. Extras policies don't have this penalty applied.
What can you claim on combined hospital and extras cover?
A combined hospital and extras policy covers you for in-hospital services that are also covered by Medicare. You can be claim for up to 38 services depending on the level of cover you choose (e.g. basic, bronze, silver or gold).
Extras, on the other hand, lets you claim in-hospital services that typically aren't covered by Medicare. This can include things such as dental, physiotherapy, opticals and remedial massage.
How to mix and match
Mixing and matching your hospital and extras options is the best way to get the most out of your benefits. Say for example you're young and healthy and don't need a high level of hospital cover but still want peace of mind knowing that you have hospital cover. Add to this that you like to get a remedial massage, need glasses and are fastidious about your teeth and see the dentist a couple of times a year. In this hypothetical situation, you can choose a basic tier hospital policy with comprehensive extras.
To go a step further, when you're comparison shopping, make sure you're looking beyond just one provider for both options. You might find a better deal by taking out your hospital with one fund and your extras with another.
Why you can trust Finder's health insurance experts
You pay nothing. Finder is free to use. And you pay the same as going direct. No markups, no hidden fees.
You save time. We spend 100s of hours researching health insurance so you can sort the gold from the junk faster.
You can trust us. We say it like it is. We aren't owned by an insurer and our opinions are our own.
Frequently asked questions
No, combined policies aren't always cheaper than taking out separate extras and hospital policies but they are more convenient and sometimes you can save with one-off joining deals. It's often cheaper to take out seperate extras and hospital policies because you have more freedom to select the services you are most likely to need.
No. You're under no obligation to take out extras and hospital cover with the same health insurer. Splitting extras and hospital policies is often better value for money because you're getting cover for services you're likely to use and it can often be cheaper than a combined policy.
The average cost of a combined hospital and extras policy is $245.21
*. How much you pay may differ depending on the fund you choose and the level of cover you select.
*Average prices are updated monthly, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney with a $750 excess.
When funds create their own packaged cover, it's common for them to pair a hospital policy with an extras policy on a similar rung. For example, if you're getting basic hospital, a health fund will typically package that with its lowest extras option.
Funds will also package policies that they think are suited to someone's life stage. In many cases, these will be placed in categories such as young and singles, family cover, couples cover and seniors cover.
Gary Ross Hunter was 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). See full bio
Gary Ross's expertise
Gary Ross has written 664 Finder guides across topics including:
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
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You pay nothing. Finder is free to use. And you pay the same as going direct. No markups, no hidden fees.
You save time. We spend 100s of hours researching health insurance so you can sort the gold from the junk faster.
You can trust us. We say it like it is. We aren't owned by an insurer and our opinions are our own.
