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Many overseas visitor and student visas for Australia will require you to have a form of health insurance, often referred to as overseas visitor health cover (OVHC) or overseas student health cover (OSHC). nib is one of many Australian health insurance providers that offers this type of cover.
nib is one of Australia’s most prominent health insurance providers, covering more than one million customers in Australia and New Zealand. It is known for flexible policies that offer a range of options and cover levels, and brings the same benefits to its OVHC
For non-students there are four levels of cover to choose from, so you can balance your cost and health needs to find a policy that’s right for you.
For other overseas visitors who want additional cover, there are four options to choose from, all of which meet visa requirements. nib offers these through IMAN, a subsidiary largely focused on healthcare for overseas visitors.
Budget | Basic | |
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Monthly price (singles cover) | $73.48 | $130.01 |
Monthly price (couples) | $146.97 | $260.02 |
Monthly price (family) | $213.50 | $304.38 |
Public and private hospital cover |
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Inpatient treatments |
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Emergency facilities cover | Only when leading to hospitalisation |
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Outpatient treatments following hospitalisation |
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Outpatient doctor consultations |
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Outpatient specialists (including pathology and radiology) |
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Outpatient psychiatric consultations |
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Pregnancy cover |
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Budget | Basic | |
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PBS-listed pharmaceuticals |
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Artificial aids |
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Physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy |
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General dental |
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Optical |
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Home nursing |
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Therapies |
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Health appliances |
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Laser eye surgery |
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Non-Medicare services are not covered by any of the cover types, except the applicable extras. Each cover type also has some specific exclusions which you cannot claim benefits for:
All cover levels will fulfill your visa requirements and also entitle you to specific additional benefits.
In all cases, you will only be covered up to 100% of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) amount for hospital and other medical services. This is the “normal” cost of procedures according to Australia’s public healthcare system. Some policies and treatments will only let you claim up to 85% of the MBS amount, in which case you will need to pay the difference yourself. In all cases you will only be covered for the specified situations and treatments listed in your policy.
If you undergo treatments with a doctor who charges more than the MBS amount, such as you might find at a private clinic, you will need to pay any difference yourself.
You can check beforehand to see how much a doctor charges, and whether you’ll incur any gap expenses.
Waiting periods also apply, and you cannot claim for the specified services immediately after taking out cover.
If you're an OSHC member with nib, your claims options include:
Category | nib service channel (members can discuss claims) | Claiming (members can claim directly) |
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Claiming App | Yes | Yes |
Online Services | Yes | Yes |
HICAPS | Yes | Extras Only |
Phone | Yes | No |
Yes | Yes | |
Yes | No | |
Retail Centre | Yes | Yes |
Dedicated Contact Centre | Yes | No |
Website | Yes | No |
24 Hour emergency helpline | Yes | No |
Dedicated on campus support | No | No |
On campus claim processing | No | No |
Direct Billing | Yes | Yes |
Click to chat | No | No |
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