RT Health have come in strong this year, taking its first Finder Award for the Silver Hospital Tier in 2025.00. The Silver Plus offering goes beyond the tier requirements, resulting in the highest value product in the category.
RT Health have come in strong this year, taking its first Finder Award for the Silver Hospital Tier in 2025.00. The Silver Plus offering goes beyond the tier requirements, resulting in the highest value product in the category.
Highly commended 
Bupa's Silver Plus Intermediate Hospital policy is Highly Commended in the Silver Hospital Health Insurance category. It presents a compelling blend of value and features, delivering comprehensive cover for a wide spectrum of treatments at the Silver Plus level.
Bupa's Silver Plus Intermediate Hospital policy is Highly Commended in the Silver Hospital Health Insurance category. It presents a compelling blend of value and features, delivering comprehensive cover for a wide spectrum of treatments at the Silver Plus level.
HCF's Hospital Standard Silver Plus policy earns a Highly Commended spot in the Silver Hospital Health Insurance category. Packed with impressive benefits, it offers extensive cover that truly exceeds the standard Silver requirements, making it a solid choice.
HCF's Hospital Standard Silver Plus policy earns a Highly Commended spot in the Silver Hospital Health Insurance category. Packed with impressive benefits, it offers extensive cover that truly exceeds the standard Silver requirements, making it a solid choice.
"I originally signed up for a Gold insurance policy because I wanted to cover everything. As it turns out, a Silver policy covered everything I needed so I dropped down a tier and save money on my repayments every month."
Gold-tier hospital insurance covers all 38 treatments outlined by the Australian government. This includes treatments like joint replacements, pregnancy and insulin pumps, as well as all services covered by Silver-tier policies.
Silver-tier hospital insurance covers at least 26 treatments outlined by the Australian government. This includes treatments like dental surgery, lung and chest, and podiatric surgery, as well as all services covered by Bronze-tier policies.
Basic-tier hospital insurance isn't required to fully cover any treatments outlined by the Australian government, but it does need to have restricted cover for rehabilitation, hospital psychiatric services and palliative care. Generally, Basic cover is primarily used to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Health Cover loading.
*Average prices updated April 2026, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $105,000 income and living in Sydney with a $750 excess.
If you're not planning to start a family in the near future but still want reasonable coverage, then a Silver policy might be a good choice for you. It provides you with a range of benefits but doesn't provide cover for clinical categories you're not going to use, such as pregnancy and birth, and assisted reproductive services. Some sub-groups of people this might include are:
Silver-tier cover provides a range of benefits that are suitable for older Australians. However, there are some treatments that may be important for some older people that aren't available with all Silver policies. Here are some examples:
The Silver-tier covers more specialised treatments than Bronze cover, so can be useful for people with more specific medical needs that they need coverage for. Additionally, many providers offer 'Silver plus' policies with cover for a small selection of Gold-tier treatments. These policies add a lot of flexibility for people who want coverage for some Gold-tier treatments, but don't need the highest level of coverage.
Think you may have sleep apnoea? Here's what you need to know about public and private healthcare cover.
Doing a medical costs comparison could save you a lot of money. Here's how to reduce your out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Think you may need hernia surgery? See what's involved.
If you need knee surgery in Australia, see how private and public works and explore your options.
Think you may need hip surgery in the future? Compare your options for public and private treatment.
Medicare and private health insurance can work together to bring down the costs of your gender reassignment surgery.
Find out if being treated as an inpatient or an outpatient will affect your private health insurance cover.
Palliative care is the practice of easing the pain of a patient with a terminal illness and making them as comfortable as possible before death.
Find the answers to the most common questions about health cover excesses in this helpful guide.
Learn the pros and cons of private vs public health in this handy guide to the differences between public and private health insurance.
Is there a health insurer that covers cataract surgery in the Silver Tier?
Hi Graham,
Usually, no. Standard Silver hospital cover in Australia doesn’t include cataract surgery as they are legally mandated to be included in the Gold-tier clinical category under the government system. There is one potential loophole: some insurers offer Silver Plus policies that do include cataracts as an added benefit. Hope this helps!
I want general hospital, including joint replacement, ambulance, optical and dental. what is best policy for me.
Hi Ann,
Health insurance is offered in tiers: basic, bronze, silver or gold. To get cover that includes joint replacements, you’ll need a Gold level hospital policy, as the lower tiers generally don’t cover joint replacements. An alternative may be Silver Plus, which is a tier between silver and gold.
For ambulance, optical and dental, you will need to take out an extras policy. Note that you can take out a hospital or extras policy separately, you don’t need to have both. Hope this helps!