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When you buy health insurance, there are some things you'll be able to claim almost immediately, such as the cost of an emergency ambulance trip. But there are other services you can't access until you've held your policy for a while.
Waiting periods vary depending on the treatment. In most cases, you'll need to serve a 2-month waiting period before you're covered, with a few exceptions. For example, you have to hold a gold-standard hospital policy for at least 12 months before you can claim for pregnancy or childbirth benefits.
Waiting periods were put in place to keep people from signing up only when they need treatment and then cancelling afterwards. If you were allowed to do this, insurance premiums would go up for all policyholders because there would be so much pressure on the health funds.
Once you've served your waiting periods with 1 health fund, you won't have to serve them again if you switch unless there's a break in cover.
With hospital cover, the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman sets the maximum possible waiting periods for every circumstance and insurers have to stick to them. This means the same waiting periods will apply no matter what hospital policy you get.
| Hospital benefit | Waiting period |
|---|---|
| Most pre-existing conditions | 12 months |
| Pregnancy and childbirth | 12 months |
| All psychiatric care, rehabilitation and palliative care | 2 months |
| Other in-hospital treatment | 2 months |
| Accidents and ambulance services | No waiting period |
Extras waiting periods are set by individual health funds so unlike hospital cover, they can vary. However, due to competition between insurers, you'll find that they are typically the same across the majority of health funds. In some cases, health insurers will let you skip waiting periods for certain treatments such as general dental, optical and physiotherapy.
| Extras benefit | Typical waiting period |
|---|---|
| General dental | 2 months |
| Major dental | 12 months |
| Optical | 2 months |
| Physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy | 2 months |
| Remedial massage | 2 months |
| Dietetics, nutrition and weight loss | 2 months |
| Pharmacy (non-PBS pharmacy items) | 2 months |
| Hearing aids | 12 months |
You'll have to wait 12 months before pre-existing medical conditions are covered by your hospital insurance policy. That includes any illnesses you showed symptoms of in the 6 months prior to taking out a hospital policy. The only exception is if your pre-existing medical condition falls under psychiatric care, rehabilitation or palliative care – in which case, you'll only need to serve a 2-month waiting period.
There are no pre-existing condition waiting periods with extras health insurance. That means if you've already got bad eyesight, you won't have to wait any longer to claim benefits. You'll just have the standard waiting period.
Looking to do more research? You can use this free tool to see health insurance quotes side by side. Keep an eye out for the yellow banner highlighting any insurers waiving waiting periods as a sign-up deal.
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