Health insurance for visitors

Do visitors need health insurance?

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:

• Without it you'll need to pay for all your own medical costs in Australia, whether it’s a dental check up or a trip to the hospital emergency room after a serious accident.
• Injury and sickness is unpredictable, particularly while travelling, so getting health insurance for tourists is an important part of the pre-flight checklist for experienced travellers.

What do I get with OVHC?

Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC) is a type of health insurance designed specifically for visitors to Australia. It can cover you for:

Reciprocal Health Care Agreements

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:

OVHC waiting periods

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.

FAQs about health insurance for visitors

• Which insurance is best for visitors to Australia?

  IF you're a visitor to Australia, especially on the 600 visa, you should get OVHC - specially a 'visitor' policy - from an Aussie insurance fund. This will cover you for accidents and other essential medical care you might need when you're in Australia. Be sure to read the product details to know exactly what's covered.

• Does visa 600 need health insurance?

  Assume yes. The Aussie government imposes the 8501 condition on some visas that requires you to have 'adequate health insurance'. 8501 is mandatory on working and study visas, but discretionary for 600, depending on the visa stream. If you have condition 8501 on your visa, you need an OVHC policy. To be honest, even if you don't have 8501 on your visa you should still get OVHC.

• Do I need OVHC in Australia if I have travel insurance?

  If your visa isn't subject to condition 8501 you do need OVHC, even if you have travel insurance. If it's not subject to 8501 then you might be okay with just travel insurance. However, OVHC is a much more reliably option for medical cover in Australia. Because OVHC is build directly with Aussie hospitals, you likely won't need to even see a medical bill at all. On the other hand, travel insurance might need you to pay your medical bills and then claim them later, which could be crazy expensive. Travel insurance is also more likely to not cover everything, where as OVHC is designed to match up with the Aussie medical system pretty tightly.