As your children grow older, they can still be included on your membership at no additional cost on your family or single parent membership until they turn 21 or, if they are full-time students, until they turn 25, provided they're not married or in a de facto relationship. This is because we consider them to be your dependant children.

If you have unmarried children aged 21 to 24 who aren't studying full-time and are not in a de facto relationship we also have a membership option on certain covers called families with adult children. Although you'll pay an additional premium for this, it can prove to be a more economical option for your children than if they were to take out their own cover at the same level. Waiting periods may apply.

Generally, a healthy newborn isn’t separately admitted to hospital as an inpatient (this is because the baby comes under the mother’s admission). Because the baby isn’t an inpatient, it’s important to be aware that any treatment, tests or doctor’s visits (e.g. a pre-release check-up by a paediatrician) are outpatient services, for which Medibank doesn’t pay any benefits (except under some Visitors Covers). This means you’ll only be eligible to claim a Medicare rebate for those services and may have out-of-pocket expenses. 

In some cases, a newborn may need to be admitted to hospital in their own right (for example, where they require treatment in a special care nursery or an intensive care unit). This type of admission can be very expensive. 

To ensure your newborn will be entitled to receive benefits in the event they need these services, we strongly advise you to add them to your membership from their date of birth. If a newborn isn’t added within Medibank’s required timeframes, you’ll be responsible for any costs associated with their admission. 

You should also be aware that if you’re expecting a multiple birth (e.g. twins) your second or subsequent babies will always be separately admitted to hospital as inpatients. This means that an accommodation charge will be raised by the hospital, so it’s important to make sure they’re added to your membership.

Call us on 1300 531 726.

If you're on a single membership:

To add a dependant child to your membership you'll need to change from a single to a family or single parent family membership. If you do this within two months from the date of their birth or inclusion in your family unit (e.g. through marriage, adoption or fostering) your child won't have to serve any waiting periods the policy holder has already served. The change must be backdated to the date of birth or the date of inclusion in your family unit and will affect the premiums you’ll need to pay. Where a child is added outside two months, they’ll have to serve all waiting periods applicable to the cover.

If you're on a couple or family membership:

You can add a dependant child to your membership within 12 months of their birth or inclusion into the family unit and they generally won't need to serve any waiting periods the policy holder already served on the membership. This change can be backdated or commence from the date of application or any future date you choose. Where a child is added outside of 12 months, they will be subject to the regular waiting periods.

Adding a dependant child may affect the premiums you’ll need to pay.

It's easy to change from a single to a couple membership, but you should be aware that higher premiums apply to a couple membership and additional waiting periods may apply to your partner.

In some cases yes, in other cases no. We’ll pay towards services included on your new cover from the date you join if: (i) those services were also included on your cover with your former fund, and (ii) you join us within two months of leaving your former fund, and (iii) you've already served the applicable waiting periods. So, although we'll recognise any waiting periods you've served with your former fund, if you haven't fully served the applicable waiting periods, you'll need to serve the balance with us before you're eligible for benefits.

Additional waiting periods will also apply for any increased benefits, where you have chosen a lower excess, or if you wait more than two months after leaving your former fund before you join Medibank.

Any loyalty bonus or other similar entitlements built up with your former fund (for example, orthodontic entitlements) will not transfer to Medibank. If you transfer to Medibank or to another Medibank cover, any benefits that may have been paid under your previous cover will be taken into account in determining the benefits payable under your new cover.

Although you as the policy holder ‘are responsible' for the membership, your partner (if he or she is also included on the same membership) can (unless you otherwise advise) manage most aspects of the membership too, including (but not limited to): making claims, adding or removing dependants, changing cover and suspending the membership.

However, as the policy holder you're the only one who can remove yourself from the membership or cancel the membership. It's important to be aware that this means we may disclose registered membership details to both of you. If at any time you want to be the only person who can manage the membership or you require further information about the handling of personal information, please call us on 1300 531 726.

Some of the terms we use when we're talking about membership are: member, membership, and policy holder. As a starting point, it's good to be clear on all three.

A member is simply any person included on a Medibank membership.

A membership is made up of one or more members and can consist of:

• just one person, (single membership)
• a couple membership which includes you (the policy holder) and your partner
• single parent family* membership, which includes you and
  • any of your child dependants and/or
  • any student dependants
• family membership*, which includes you and your partner and
  • any of your child dependants and/or
  • any of your student dependants
• family with adult children membership option, which can, for an additional cost, extend a single parent or family membership to include any of your children who:
  
  • have reached the age of 21 but are under 25,
  • are not studying full-time, and
  • are neither married nor living in a de facto relationship

*Not all membership categories are available on all our products.

The term policy holder refers to the person who is responsible the membership. This is the person we contact when we need to communicate important information.

You may have different health needs at different stages of your life, so it makes sense to review your health cover regularly. This is especially important if your situation changes. For example, if you're planning to start a family, the kids have grown up or either you or someone in your family has developed a health issue. Whatever your situation, it's a good idea to call us to discuss your options on 1300 560 309 or drop into one of our stores. Alternatively you can log into MyMedibank and compare covers.

If you join but then decide you'd like to either cancel your membership or move to another cover, we have what is known as a ‘cooling-off' period. This also applies if you're already a member and have recently changed your cover.

As long as you tell us within 30 days of joining or changing your cover, and no claims have been made against your policy there's no problem. We can either transfer you to a more suitable cover from the original commencement date or refund your premium in full.

During the cooling off period, you cannot generally return to a cover that Medibank has closed.