If things have gotten really bad, please talk to someone right away. If you don't have time to get to your GP fast enough, here are some phone numbers you can use right away.
If you need to go to hospital for psychiatric services, you are covered as a public patient under Medicare. To be covered as a private patient, you'll need private hospital cover. Specifically, you'll need a hospital policy that has full coverage for psychiatric services. A lot of cheaper policies have restricted cover for this, but that will cover very little of the treatment costs, so make sure you get something with proper coverage. This is always covered under Gold policies, but can be covered on some Bronze Plus and Silver Plus roles too.
Psychiatric care has some special waiting periods exemptions. Psychiatric care has a 2 month waiting period, even if there are pre-existing conditions. Pre-existing conditions normally trigger a 12 month waiting period, but this one is an exception.
All prices are based on a single individual with less than $93,000 income and living in Sydney.
Why compare health insurance with Finder?
We don't ask for your phone or email to see prices.
With 1 click, you can open your results to nearly every fund in Australia.
You pay the same price as going direct – we charge no fees.
Why compare with us
Our customers trust us
Mental health refers to how you feel emotionally and psychologically and how you're able to weather the ups and downs of life. It covers all of the following:
You can think of mental illness as a health problem that significantly affects any of the abilities mentioned above. According to the Black Dog Institute, a leading non-profit Australian mental health organisation, one in five Australians is living with a mental illness at any given time.
Mental health treatment sometimes requires a cocktail of treatments and medications. Luckily, there is a variety of professionals who are trained to treat various aspects of mental illness. These include:
In 2006, the Australian government launched the Better Access initiative, which gives people improved access to mental health treatments under Medicare.
Under this initiative, anyone with a mental health issue is covered for up to 10 sessions with a qualified psychologist and psychiatrist. All that's required is that you see your GP first to get a mental health treatment plan.
If you require hospitalisation, Medicare will cover you for treatment in a public hospital.
Get the lowdown on what's happening, so you can get a better deal on your health insurance.
Frank Health Insurance provides Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) for 457, 482 and 485 visas. Find out if it has a policy that's right for you.
See if Latrobe health insurance is right for you.
HBF is one of the 5 largest health funds in Australia, offering a range of hospital, extras and combined covers to members in WA and around Australia.
Frank Insurance, owned by GMHBA, aims to make health insurance simple, easy to understand and affordable.
The regional health fund has limited choice, with only two levels of hospital cover. But, it does offer some impressive perks too.
Our experts compared 30+ funds and analysed hundreds of policies to help you find the best health insurance.
We looked at the statistics to see whether Australians really are ditching their private health insurance.
If you’re looking for private health insurance in Victoria, compare the most popular health funds in your state and how much it costs to take out cover.