Cheap 600 Visa Health Insurance 2026: Compare OVHC From $51
Here's how to find the cheapest policy that still meets your visa's health requirements, and when you're allowed to go for the most basic option.
Key takeaways
- You're liable for all medical costs when in Australia, either out of pocket or with insurance.
- It helps if your country has an health care agreement with Australia. If not, you'll need OVHC.
- You can get OVHC in a few minutes online, from around $51 a month.
Do you need health cover for the 600 visa?
Yes, you need some sort of health cover on a 600 visa, as you're liable for any medical expenses while you're visiting Australia. Exactly how much cover you need and how you get it will change based on on your country of origin and your specific visa conditions. Some 600 visas are subject to condition 8501, which means you will need to get an adequate OVHC policy. More on this below.
How to get health cover on a 600 visa
There are 3 ways you can get cover for a 600 (tourist) visa:
- Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC): This is health insurance made for visitors to Australia, sold by an Australian company. It's custom made for the Aussie medical system and designed to suit the needs of visitors, workers, or students. Some OVHC policies will be made to suit the 8501 requirement, but many of them won't be.
- Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA): There are 11 countries that have an agreement with Australia to provide medical care for their residents. For many casual visitors, this is enough. However, it's not necessarily enough to satisfy condition 8501.
- Travel Insurance: If your visa is not subject to condition 8501, then travel insurance might be enough to cover your medical costs when you visit Australia. You can use a provider in your country, or get inbound travel insurance from Australia.
What is OVHC?
Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC) is a type of private health insurance tailored to visa holders coming to work, live and visit Australia, like those on the 600 visa. It can cover you things including:
- Hospital treatment, accommodation and theatre fees
- Emergency ambulance transportation fees
- Doctor, surgeon and specialist fees
- Prescriptions and General Practitioner (GP) consultations
Compare OVHC for 600 visa class
The table below lists OVHC policies made for the 600 visa class. They all provide basic medical cover for your trip, with some offering much more comprehensive cover. Whether you need a policy that meets condition 8501 depends on your specific visa: it's required for some 600 visa streams and not others, so check your grant letter.
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Compare other products
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How we picked theseFinder Score for overseas health insurance
To make comparing overseas health insurance even easier, we developed the Finder Score. Factors like price, hospital cover, extras cover, emergency travel, and more are weighted and scaled across 50+ policies from 15+ providers to produce a score out of 10. The higher the score, the more competitive the policy.
Pricing is based on a single person living 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 2026 but are subject to change.
Did you know?
Did you know 23% of Australians skipped medical treatment due to cost in the past year, according to Finder's 2026 Health Report? For visitors in Australia on a 600 visa, healthcare isn't covered by Medicare, which can make unexpected medical costs even harder to manage without insurance. Overseas Visitor Health Cover is designed to help bridge that gap, protecting against hospital and medical bills for the length of your stay.
When OVHC is mandatory (condition 8501)
For some visitors on a 600 visa, health insurance may be mandatory. If your visa is subject to condition 8501, you must have adequate health insurance for the whole of your stay in Australia.
Condition 8501 might be attached to the following Visitor (subclass 600) visas:
- Tourist (In Australia)
- Tourist (Outside Australia)
Condition 8501 doesn't apply to the following Visitor (subclass 600) visas:
- Business Visitor
- Sponsored Family
- Approved Destination Status
- Frequent Traveller.
Note that not all OVHC policies are 8501 compliant. You'll need to make sure your policy covers 8501 standards when you sign up.
Cheapest cover vs cheapest compliant cover
If your 600 visa doesn't carry condition 8501, you can generally choose the most basic, cheapest OVHC policy (or in some cases rely on travel insurance or an RHCA). If your visa does carry 8501, you must hold cover that meets the required standard for your whole stay, and the cheapest policy on the market may not qualify. Always check the policy is described as meeting 8501 before you buy.
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.
Reciprocal health care agreements on a 600 visa
Australia's public healthcare system, Medicare, generally only covers Australian citizens and permanent residents. You may be partially covered by Medicare if you're visiting Australia from a country that has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) in place.
Cover varies based on the country you're visiting from but generally includes:
- Free or reduced-cost treatment in a public hospital
- Subsidised prescription medicines
- Medicare benefits for out-of-hospital medical treatment and doctor's visits.
If you're a visitor, you aren't generally eligible for Medicare unless you are from a country that has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement in place with Australia. You may be partially covered by Medicare if you're from one of the following countries that Australia has an RHCA with:
- The United Kingdom
- The Republic of Ireland
- New Zealand
- The Netherlands
- Belgium
- Italy
- Malta
- Sweden
- Slovenia
- Norway
- Finland
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i need tourist health cover for me and for my wife
Hey, thanks for the comment! You’re in the right place. For a trip to Australia, an OVHC policy will cover your health costs while you’re here. You’ll just need a policy that is specified for ‘Visitors’, or that calls out your visa number, which is likely the 600 visa. You can apply with an insurance providers online – if there are any issues with your cover and visa, they’ll be able to help.
Good luck, and enjoy your trip!