No-gap optical
No-gap optical means you don’t pay a cent towards your new glasses. Here’s how to get it.
Key takeaways
- No-gap optical means you pay nothing for prescription glasses up to your annual limit.
- Many no-gap schemes require you to visit specific preferred optometrists.
- Extras policies, averaging $53 monthly, often have two to six month waiting periods.
What different scores mean
9+
Excellent
Competitive pricing coupled with highly ranked extras.
7+
Great
Balanced pricing and features, offering overall good value.
5+
Standard
These products offer a balance between price and features.
0+
Basic
These products usually offer fewer extras or above average pricing.
No-gap optical is an attractive benefit offered by some extras health insurance policies. It means you don't have to pay anything towards your new glasses, as long as they don't cost more than your annual limit.
If you have a $200 annual limit, and your new specs also happen to cost $200, you can walk away with a fresh prescription - for free!
Not all health insurers offer no-gap optical, but we've rounded up a few with limits ranging from $100-$250 so that you can compare policies at a glance.
Compare extras only policies that cover optical
Below are a few Finder partners that cover Optical in their extras policies. They will have either a 2 or 6 month waiting period. They also include other benefits such as dental or physiotherapy. All prices are based on a single individual with less than $105,000 income and living in Sydney.
Finder Score - Health Insurance Extras
Each month we analyse over 10,000 extras insurance products and rate each one on price and features. What we end up with is a nice round number out of 10 that helps you compare extras cover a bit faster.
We want to compare apples to apples, not apples to apple pie. It doesn't make sense to compare a top extras policy with coverage for hearing aids and braces against a policy designed only for dental. So we've separated all the extras policies on the market into pools and categories. Once in their pools and categories, each product gets a price score and a features score, which are then combined to give the Final Score.
Optical services and health insurance
Extras cover is available in several levels (basic, medium and comprehensive) and generally covers ancillary services such as optical, dental and physio up to set annual benefit limits.
What is the medical gap and how do I avoid it?
If a doctor charges a higher fee than the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) fee for a service, the medical gap is the difference between the MBS fee and the doctor’s fee. This amount will have to be paid either by your health fund or by you.
In the case of optical services that are not listed on the MBS, the medical gap is the gap between what an optometrist charges for lenses and frames and what your private health extras cover will pay towards them.
To avoid having to pay any medical gap, you need to be with a health fund that has a no-gap scheme. A no-gap optical scheme is one where a health fund agrees to cover the medical gap if members go to a preferred optometrist or an optical dispenser with which the health fund has an arrangement. These practices charge capped prices that have been agreed upon with the health fund for a select range of lenses and frames.
Which health funds have a no-gap optical scheme?
Here are Finder's partner health funds that offer a no-gap optical option:
| Fund | What's covered? | More info |
|---|---|---|
 | ahm offers 100% back up to your annual limit on the cost of prescription glasses, frames, lenses, repairs, and contact lenses. | |
 | For prescription glasses, contact lenses or repairs supplied by an optometrist in private practice. Excludes non-prescription sunglasses and contact lenses, and optical consultations. | |
 | 100% Optical benefits on prescription lenses and contact lenses. | |
 | Includes prescription glasses, prescription sunglasses and prescription contact lenses. Doesn't include non-prescription sunglasses, repairs or frames purchased without prescription lenses or ophthalmology appointments. | |
 | 100% Optical benefits on frames, single vision lenses. Frames, bi-focal or multi-focal lenses and contact lenses. | |
 | HCF offers a range of fully covered services through HCF Eyecare Centres, Dresden, or Specsavers on a range of standard prescription glasses and one free digital retinal imaging with your eye test per calendar year. | |
 | You can claim 100% of your annual limit on prescription glasses, contact lenses or sunglasses from any optical provider in Australia with HIF. | |
 | 100% back on eligible items up to annual limits at all recognised providers. Includes prescription glasses and contact lenses. | |
 | Through its nib Eye Care Centres, nib offers members 100% back on three ranges of complete single vision prescription glasses and selected contact lenses (depending on your level of cover) with free delivery anywhere in Australia. | |
 | Optical benefits (glasses & contacts) are paid when glasses or contacts are prescribed by a registered optometrist. They have to be for sight correction, and non-prescription sunglasses aren't covered. | |
 | Transport Health offers members 100% back on a selection of single vision, bifocal and multifocal glasses from several ranges at Specsavers (depending on your level of cover). |
Table last updated April 2021
How much does health insurance cost?
We ask hundreds of Australians what they're paying for health insurance every month. Here's what their bill looked like in March 2026.
- Extras only: $53
- Basic: $90
- Bronze: $144
- Silver: $184
- Gold: $285
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