What limitations should I know about?

The costs covered are different depending on which option you choose. When you pick Essential Lite, Essential or Essential 50, you might need to pay more out of pocket for hospital procedures than if you pick Mid 60, Explorer or Explorer 50. Not all procedures will be fully covered either. Certain treatments like heart surgery, hip replacements and renal dialysis may result in more out-of-pocket expenses. Waiting periods also apply to certain treatments. For most hospital services and extras services, you will have to wait for two months after taking out cover before you can claim them. For most pre-existing conditions, it is 12 months for hospital cover.

How can I make a claim with Bupa?

When you sign up, Bupa will give you a membership card. This can be used at participating extras service providers to claim reimbursement for services, as covered under your plan. For hospital treatments, the hospital can bill Bupa for services directly, and you will often only need to pay the difference, as well as any applicable excess, directly to the hospital or service provider.

Bupa Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) Review

Several Australian visa types require visitors to take out overseas visitor health cover (OVHC). Bupa offers several OVHC types and they are not interchangeable - its Short Stay Visitors Cover, for example, is not suitable for 482 long-stay working visa holders. Check the eligible visa subclasses on each product before you buy.

Pros

It's well-known and trusted. Bupa is the second-largest health insurer by market share in Australia, just behind Medibank, and has a global presence.
It comes with lots of options to suit various budgets – unlike many other brands.

Con

It can't cover everything – you'll still incur out of pocket expenses if you need medical care.

Bupa OVHC: our verdict

Bupa is good if:

You need to meet condition 8501 of your visa.
You want to avoid ambulance fees.
You aren't covered by a RHCA.

Bupa is not great if:

You're overwhelmed by lots of choices.
You're coming to Australia as a student – you'll need OSHC.

_{Review by our insurance and innovations editor Gary Ross Hunter}

What types of health insurance does Bupa OVHC offer?

Hospital
Extras
Ambulance

Hospital icon

Hospital Coverage

Bupa offers these OVHC plans:

Essential Lite Visitors Cover
Essential Visitors Cover
Essential 50 Visitors Cover
Mid 60 Visitors Cover
Explorer Visitors Cover
Explorer 50 Visitors Cover
Short Stay Visitors Cover

	Essential Lite	Essential	Essential 50	Mid 60	Explorer	Explorer 50	Short Stay
Weekly starting cost	$23.05	$30.86	$37.06	$76.22	$45.82	$52.02	$12.27
Hospital cover	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Low
Amount of costs covered	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Low

Extras icon

Extras coverage

Unlike many other insurers, Bupa offers several extras insurance options, including:

Freedom 50 Extras. This pays 50% towards benefits including General Dental, Physio, Chiro and Osteo.
Freedom 60 Extras. This pays 60% towards benefits including General Dental, Physio, Chiro, Osteo and Remedial Massage.
Top Extras 75. This pays 75% towards benefits including General Dental, Major Dental & Endodontic, Optical, Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Remedial Massage and more.
Top Extras 90. This pays 90% towards benefits including General Dental, Major Dental & Endodontic, Optical, Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Remedial Massage and more.

Ambulance icon

Ambulance coverage

Bupa will pay 100% of the cost of emergency ambulance transport across Australia. Ambulance services aren't generally free in Australia.

Bupa health insurance complaints

We looked at the Commonwealth Ombudsman's State of the Health Funds Report 2023-24, which is the data in the chart below. Here's how Bupa stacked up:

It's good if you want a reliable customer service provider – it had a better complaint ratio than other large funds including HCF and nib.*

While it didn't receive many complaints compared to market share, it's not quite the best. Bupa performed better than some smaller funds, including Westfund.

Bupa OVHC frequently asked questions

The costs covered are different depending on which option you choose. When you pick Essential Lite, Essential or Essential 50, you might need to pay more out of pocket for hospital procedures than if you pick Mid 60, Explorer or Explorer 50.
Not all procedures will be fully covered either. Certain treatments like heart surgery, hip replacements and renal dialysis may result in more out-of-pocket expenses.
Waiting periods also apply to certain treatments. For most hospital services and extras services, you will have to wait for two months after taking out cover before you can claim them. For most pre-existing conditions, it is 12 months for hospital cover.
When you sign up, Bupa will give you a membership card. This can be used at participating extras service providers to claim reimbursement for services, as covered under your plan.
For hospital treatments, the hospital can bill Bupa for services directly, and you will often only need to pay the difference, as well as any applicable excess, directly to the hospital or service provider.

Sources

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Written by

Gary Ross Hunter

Journalist

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Gary Ross Hunter has over 6 years of expertise writing about insurance, including life, health, home, and car insurance. Having reviewed hundreds of product disclosure statements and published over 800 articles, he loves simplifying complex insurance topics for everyday readers. Gary has contributed to major outlets like Yahoo Finance, The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow, along with a Tier 2 General Advice certification, ensuring his work adheres to ASIC’s RG146 standards. See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise

Gary Ross has written 529 Finder guides across topics including:

Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
Managing the cost of living

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