Unlike some other Australian visas, it's not a requirement for tourists to get health insurance for the 600 visa. However, just because it’s not mandatory, doesn’t mean you don’t need cover. The Department of Immigration strongly recommends private health insurance for anyone coming to Australia on a 600 visa. This is for two very important reasons:
Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC) is a type of health insurance designed specifically for visitors to Australia. It can cover you for:
Medicare is Australia’s public healthcare system, and generally it only covers Australian citizens and permanent residents. Most visitors to Australia aren’t eligible, unless there is an Reciprocal Health Care Agreement in place. This means that if you are visiting Australia from any of the following countries, you may be partially covered by Medicare. Australia has an RHCA with the following countries:
While domestic health insurance policies have waiting periods before you can claim, they don't make sense for visitor, as you'll need coverage from the first day you arrive. As such, most visitor OVHC policies have zero waiting periods. That doesn't include pre-existing conditions though, which are never covered.
Just a quick note here - some of the student and working OVHC policies do have waiting period, especially for the more complex cover types. So if you were to somehow change from a visitor to a working visa (I don't know if that happens, I'm not an immigration lawyer) then you may have some waiting periods on your new policy.
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.
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