Latrobe Health Insurance

Latrobe Health Services are part of a network of Members Own Health Funds that focus on giving good prices and choices to their members. With several hospital cover options and nine different extras policies, you can find benefits to suit your needs.

Who is Latrobe

Latrobe Health Services were founded in 1951 to provide quality health care to their members. As a Members Own Health Fund, Latrobe is part of a network of nineteen health insurers providing member-focused benefits to over 2.5 million Australians.

Latrobe is a not-for-profit organisation, and by taking out cover with them you'll enjoy a reduced Medicare Levy Surcharge as well as government rebates on your private health insurance premiums.

What health insurance options are available?

Hospital cover

• Gold top hospital. This is standard top-level hospital cover, covering most standard treatments in hospitals and accomodation cover, theatre fees, surgically implanted prosthetics, TV hire and more. It has no excess associated with it.
• Gold family care hospital. Same as the Gold top hospital, but includes a $40-70 co-payment per day in hospital and covers single dependants until their 25th birthday. It has no excess associated with it.
• Gold co-payment and special excess hospital. Same as Gold top hospital, but include either a $40-70 co-payment per day in hospital, a flexible excess, or an excess that decreases every year for the first four years.
• Healthy start basic hospital. A combined extras and hospital package that provides limited cover for private hospitals and restricted benefits for treatments.
• Basic public hospital. Provides limited cover for private hospitals and restricted benefits for treatments.

Extras cover

Latrobe Health Services offers nine different extras policies, some that you can buy as a standalone policy and others that you can only purchase together with one of Latrobe's hospital policies:

Extras you can purchase as a standalone policy:

• Dental. Like the name implies, this covers dental only. It offers $1000 worth of dental cover. During the first year of member, this $1000 can only be applied to general dental. The following year, you can apply $300 of that to major dental and every year after that you can apply more and more of that $1000 toward major dental.
• Primary Extras. This is a basic policy that cover general dental, major dental, a few therapies and pharmacy. It offers mainly set limits, meaning you'll get a rebate equal to a specific amount rather than a percentage of the otherall cost, regardless of how much the service costs. These limits are quite small.
• Standard Extras. This covers quite a lot, including general dental, major dental, orthodontics, a range of therapies, pharmacy, dietician, acupuncture, optical, health appliances, hearing aids, podiatry, ambulance rebate and psychology. The set limits are on the low side, meaing you'll probably have high out-of-pocket expenses for many treatments. Major dental and orthodontics aren't available until your second year of membership.
• Advantage Family Care Extras. This is almost exactly the same as Standard Extras, with all the same treatments and all the same benefit limits. There are two differences: this covers all of your non-student dependants from age 18-25 and gives them all the same benefit limits as you. It also offers one extra category of treatment, which is health screenings like mammograms, bone density testing and mole mapping.
• Top Extras. This offers many of the same treatments as the Standard Extras and Advantage Family Care Extras plus a few more, like a blood pressure monitor, visiting nurse, lymphoedema garments and a quit smoking course. It also has higher benefit limits.
• Premier Extras. This is the highest level of cover you can get from Latrobe, covering everything Top Extras covers, but with higher benefit limits.
• Premier Family Care Extras. This is exactly the same as Premier Extras but it also covers your 18-25 year old non-student dependents.

Extras that you can only purcahse together with a hospital policy:

• Basic extras. This is a basic policy that covers general dental, a range of therapies like physio and chiro and pharmacy. It also covers major dental but only if it is the result of an accident.
• Advantage Extras. This is exactly the same as the Standard Extras policy mentioned above, with all the same treatments and all the same benefit limits. However, it includes two treatments/services Standard Extras does not: lymphoedema garments and health screenings.

Member offers

Besides the benefits of your health insurance, you receive the following for signing up with Latrobe Health Services:

• Government rebate. You can receive a significant rebate on your private insurance premiums depending on your income levels. The lower your income and greater your age, the higher the percentage you'll receive back.
• Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). If your income is more than $90,000 and you don't have private health insurance, you'll have a levy raised of 1-1.5% of your income. Depending on your income, it may be cheaper to pay premiums than the MLS.
• LHC loading. Taking a private insurance prevents loading fees (which kick in after 30 if you haven't had private health insurance) which can be as high as 70% of the original premium cost.

How to make a claim

There are two ways to claim on your extras. You can either:

• Claim electronically. Some extras, including chiropractic, dental, osteopathy, physiotherapy and more, can be claimed via HICAPS or Health Point using your member card.
• Claim by mail. All extras can be claimed in person or by mail by either filling out a claim form and mailing it to Latrobe or by visiting a Latrobe branch.