No waiting period health insurance

There actually is a way to get your waiting periods waived.

Actually, there a few: you can get your extras waiting periods waived by taking advantage of a promotion or by straight up asking. You can also get your hospital waiting periods waived if you've already waited with another insurer.

Search health cover below and read on for some tips, tricks and maybe even a few cheeky deals.

Compare health funds waiving extras waiting periods in August 2018

Keep an eye out for the yellow banner highlighting any insurers waiving waiting periods as a sign-up deal!

Does any fund offer health insurance with no waiting periods?

There is no private health insurance policy offered by any Australian fund that does not have waiting periods as a standard feature. Regardless of whether you choose hospital or extras cover, waiting periods usually apply to the benefits provided by your policy.

However, health funds do offer special promotions where they will waive the waiting periods on extras services to attract new members. In these cases, you are able to claim for relevant services as soon as your membership begins. These deals are especially common around the March switching period and during the lead up to the end of financial year.

• What about no waiting period dental insurance?

  Again, you'll have to serve waiting periods for dental treatments, regardless of whether it's a stand alone dental policy or extras cover. However, several promotions allow you to claim immediately for any dental service that has a two or six month waiting period, although this can only be done once in the policy's lifetime.

What are waiting periods?

When you get health insurance for the first time you will have to wait a certain amount of time before you can claim on certain benefits. Otherwise, you’d just wait until you needed treatment before signing up for a policy, and then promptly ditch the plan after the treatment finished. And that’s not sustainable for the insurance industry.

These are your waiting periods, and they also apply anytime you upgrade and take on a new benefit that you’ve never had before.

Can I get my waiting periods waived?

There are a few ways you can avoid some of these waiting periods depending on your circumstances. Which of these best describes you?

• You've served your extras waiting periods with another insurer. If you found a better deal and want to switch, your new insurer is not required to honour the fact that you've already served these, but it does give you some leverage. Many insurers will want your business bad enough that they'll waive some of the extras waiting periods you've already served. Make sure you ask.
• You've served your hospital waiting periods with another insurer. In this situation, your next insurer has to honor these by law but you will have to wait for any new benefits that weren't on the old policy (for example, if you've upgraded to a policy that covers pregnancy, you'll have to wait for pregnancy-related claims). There's not much wiggle room to negotiate anything shorter than what you're entitled to by law.
• You haven't served any waiting periods before. Hospital waiting periods are generally non-negotiable, but there are still ways to get your extras waiting periods waived with a brand new insurer. They'll sometimes waive them as part of a promotion (big times for these are the March switching period and toward the end of financial year). Or you can just ask them to drop the waiting periods if you think they want your business badly enough.

Can extras waiting periods be waived?

Many people ask this question with dental cover on their minds. Insurers will waive some of your extras waiting periods, including those for dental, because it is one of the few incentives they have to attract new customers.

It's not necessary but helps if you've already served these waiting periods with your previous insurer. Although the new guys aren't required to honour these, at least it tells them they need to try a little harder to pry you away. You can also look out for promotions where insurers will advertise waived extras waiting periods.

If you're successful, get clear about what they've agreed to waive and what they haven't. They may waive your waiting period for general dental work (like checkups) but not for major dental work (like crowns).

Can waiting periods for pre-existing conditions be waived?

Pre-existing conditions fall under hospital cover rather than extras cover, so you will have them waived if you can prove that you've already put in the wait with your current insurer. If you can't prove that, then you'll probably have to wait. The typical waiting period for pre-existing conditions is 12 months, which is the upper limit allowed by law.

You may be able to have them waive your periods for extras, which commonly include alternative therapies. If your pre-existing condition responds well to massage, physio, chiro or other alternative treatments, this could be one way to get some immediate supplemental treatment.

Can waiting periods for pregnancy and birth-related services be waived?

Pregnancy services are also considered part of hospital cover, so if you haven't already put in the wait, any new insurer will make you wait 12 months before you can make a claim. If you are planning to have a baby, you'll need to lock in your cover well before you start trying to conceive.

If you have served all your waiting periods on a policy that does not include pregnancy cover and you move to a new insurer on a policy that does include pregnancy cover, that insurer will waive the waiting periods you've already served, but not the waiting period for pregnancy. You are entitled to a waiver for only the benefits you've waited out, not for new and upgraded benefits

Health insurance no waiting period - the key points

• Waiting periods in health insurance determine how long you have to wait before you are able to claim benefits.
• All health insurers have waiting periods, but sign up offers can waive them on extras.
• You don't have to re-serve waiting periods if you've already waited with your existing fund.

Sign up deals for August 2018

Check out the latest promos to see if there are no waiting period health insurance offers that could save you time and money.

Health.com.au deals

Skip the 2 month extras waits when joining Entry or Core Hospital and Pulse Extras.

Must sign up to Entry Hospital with Pulse Extras or Core Hospital with Pulse Extras by August 31st.

Last verified 1 Aug 2018

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Deal expires 31 Aug 2018

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