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485 visa health insurance
If you're a recent graduate and coming to Australia on a 485 visa to live, study and work after your studies, you'll need 485 visa health insurance coverage. Compare 485 visa health insurance from multiple providers below.
Pricing is based on a single live in the State of New South Wales on a visa , and is not from a country that Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with and is not eligible for cover under Medicare. Prices are accurate for 2020 but are subject to change.
How to provide evidence of your health insurance arrangements
"If applicants are required to provide evidence of their health insurance arrangements, any the following may be considered acceptable, unless a particular visa subclass instruction requires other specific information:
a copy of the insurance policy;
a written letter or cover note from an acceptable insurance provider, certifying that the primary visa applicant and any accompanying family members immediately upon visa grant or their arrival in Australia, are, or will be, covered by insurance that is at least as comprehensive as the prescribed adequate level of cover;
evidence that the visa applicant has lawfully enrolled with Medicare via Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (RCHA);
evidence that the primary visa applicant and any accompanying family members immediately upon visa grant or their arrival in Australia, are, or will be, covered by health insurance that is at least as comprehensive as the adequate level of cover required under policy, with the understanding that the applicants will either enrol with Medicare under a RHCA or enrol in a private insurance arrangement after arrival; or
for citizens from the Republic of Ireland that may access RCHA, evidence that they hold an Irish passport.
Family members applying separately from the primary visa applicant or visa holder must produce evidence as per above, which clearly indicates that they, as dependant applicants, will be covered upon arrival in Australia by a policy with an adequate level of cover."
— Kaku Caro is a lawyer in LegalVision’s Corporate Immigration team. He has previous experience in the areas of commercial litigation, corporate and personal immigration. He also has experience advising on visa eligibility and preparing visa applications such as partner visas, employer-sponsored work visas, parent visas, and general skilled migration visas.
How does visitor health cover work for families and couples?
Regardless of whether it's you or your partner applying for a visa, you both need health cover. That's why it's worth considering a Couples policy. It's convenient and provides you and your partner with one policy under the same insurance provider. After all, if you live together, lead similar lifestyles and have a shared income, Couples cover is a practical and logical option. They offer slightly more expensive policies that provide a more comprehensive level of hospital cover and also allow you to add extras cover.
Young couples considering starting a family in the near future should strongly consider a higher level of cover. If you're planning on starting a family and want to be covered for birth-related services, you should get insurance well ahead of time. Many policies have a 12 month waiting period for pregnancy and birth-related coverage in private hospitals so its essential you get cover beforehand.
Until your children turn 18, they are considered dependents and are automatically covered under a family health insurance policy. Family policies help cover major dental work when your kids grow older, as well as hospital bills should they get hurt or injured.
What happens if you transition to citizenship?
For anyone who becomes a citizen, you’ll have access to Medicare. Whilst this covers you for the basics – things like emergency services – it’s really worth looking at more comprehensive cover should you be settling in to stay here long-term. Remember, things like dental and optical care not covered by Medicare, so it’s worth looking into extras cover.
You'll also be able to switch to domestic health insurance, which offers more choice and is available to Australian residents. With over 600 health insurance policies to choose from, there are a lot of options out there to suit your individual needs.
What counts as 'adequate' health insurance for the 485 visa?
The 485 visa health insurance requirements are the same as those for the 457, or Temporary Work (Skilled), visa. Under condition 8501, to be granted a visa you must have a minimum level of private health insurance cover in place.
These types of policies are typically referred to as Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC) and they are offered by a select group of private health funds. To satisfy the conditions of your visa, an OVHC policy must provide cover for certain features, including:
Treatment as an inpatient in a public hospital
Hospital accommodation, theatre fees, intensive care fees and ward drugs
Emergency department fees that lead to an admission
Admitted patient care and postoperative services
Surgically implanted prostheses
Pharmaceuticals listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
Medical services with a Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item number
Medically necessary ambulance transport
It’s important to check the fine print of any OVHC policy to make sure it matches all the relevant requirements of the 485 visa.
What is the 8501 visa condition?
Visa condition 8501 requires you to “maintain adequate arrangements for health insurance during your stay in Australia”. It applies to most temporary Australian working visas and all student visas, and is designed to ensure that foreign visitors can meet any hospital or medical treatment costs they incur while in Australia.
If this condition applies to your chosen visa, you will need to purchase health insurance cover in order for your visa application to be approved. Working visa applicants need to take out Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) while student visa applicants must purchase Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC).
Which visas are affected by the 8501 visa condition?
Many temporary visas include the 8501 condition regarding health insurance, such as the 457 temporary work (skilled) visa and the 485 temporary graduate visa. Condition 8501 also applies to all student visas, but Belgian, Norwegian and some Swedish students are exempt from this requirement under Reciprocal Health Care Agreements.
Contact the Australian Government’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection to find out whether the health insurance requirement affects you.
What's the cheapest 485 visa health insurance?
Below you'll find Finder partners offering the cheapest 485 health cover insurance. To see more plans you can sort the table at the top of this page by price. Prices quoted are based on a single policy.
Pricing is based on a single live in the State of New South Wales on a visa , and is not from a country that Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with and is not eligible for cover under Medicare. Prices are accurate for 2020 but are subject to change.
The benefits of a higher level of overseas visitor health cover
When you shop around for OVHC you will find that most private health funds offer an affordable policy that only satisfies the bare minimum of the health insurance requirements for the 485 visa. If you’re on a tight budget or only want cover for the absolute essentials, these types of policies will do just fine.
However, most health funds also offer slightly more expensive policies that provide a more comprehensive level of hospital cover and also allow you to add extras cover. Choosing one of these higher-level policies means you are covered for many more features, including:
Treatment in a private hospital
Your choice of doctor or specialist
No excess or co-payment for public hospital stays
Cover for medical repatriation
Gap cover to eliminate your out-of-pocket expenses
Shorter waiting periods
Extras benefits including optical, dental, physio, chiro, natural therapies, podiatry, health management programs and much more
Cover for high-cost medical procedures, for example, pregnancy and eye lens surgery
Cover for psychiatric services and rehabilitation
So while high-level cover costs more, the benefits it offers could be well worth the expense. It’s important to shop around and find a policy that meets all your requirements.
What exclusions apply to OVHC policies?
Although cover differs between health funds, there are specific treatments and procedures that are commonly excluded from OVHC policies. These include:
Assisted reproductive treatments
Elective cosmetic treatments
Bone marrow and organ transplants
OVHC policies must also feature only the following waiting periods:
12 months for pre-existing conditions
12 months for pregnancy
2 months for psychiatric, rehabilitation and palliative care
A range of other high-cost medical procedures are also commonly excluded or available with only a limited level of cover on OVHC policies. These include:
Heart surgery
Eye lens surgery
Joint replacements
Pregnancy and birth-related services
Plastic and reconstructive surgery
Psychiatric and rehabilitation services
Transitioning from a student visa to a 485 visa
If you’re holding a valid student visa when you apply for a 485 visa, you will already be covered by Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) as a requirement of your student visa. The OSHC you have in place is an acceptable level of health insurance to apply for a 485 visa, and you’ll need to supply evidence of this cover along with your visa application.
However, while your application is being processed, you will need to take out 485 visa-compliant health insurance. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection will contact you during processing to request evidence that you have taken out an adequate level of OVHC.
Finally, it’s important to remember that under the Reciprocal Health Care Agreements in place between their countries and Australia, Belgian, Norwegian and some Swedish students are not required to take out OSHC. However, if transitioning to a 485 visa, these students will need to take out OVHC.
FAQs about OSHC and student health insurance
Yes. Condition 8501 of your visa application states that you must maintain adequate health insurance for the whole of your stay in Australia.
No, you will generally have to take out Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) or verseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) which is a type of private health insurance designed for non-residents of Australia.
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 725 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
Insurance can be confusing when you first arrive in Australia but only health insurance is compulsory – others can be good to have depending on your situation.
Find an adequate level of private health insurance to cover any medical costs incurred during your trip to Australia on a subclass 600 visa.
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