What is the best health insurance for me?
Your health fund should have range of options based on different needs, like your health needs, family status or stage in life. Some policies are better for covering singles or couples. Others might be great for single parents or young families. Make sure there are options to suit your particular circumstances.
Hospital cover, extras cover or both?
You can choose to take up one or the other, or to package your cover. What's covered and how much you can claim for depends on a few factors, including the type of treatment and the type of policy that you have.
A cover that helps with the cost of a member's hospital stay as a private patient including:
- hospital accommodation on the ward,
- in-patient medical treatment; and
- associated appliances provided during the admission e.g. approved internal prostheses
Read more: What's the difference between Medicare and private health insurance?
Extras cover gives you money back for non-hospital services such as dental, physio, optical and more.
The amount of money you can claim back depends on the level of cover you have.
Generally speaking, the higher the level of cover, the higher your annual limit and higher the percentage you can claim back.
Read more: Is Extras cover worth it?
What waiting periods would you serve?
When you join a health fund and take up either hospital or extras cover, there will generally be a wait before you can claim on some items. Make sure you’re across which ones will apply to you.
For example, if you haven’t had hospital cover before or you’ve recently changed cover to include new or upgraded services and you have a pre-existing condition, you’ll have a 12 month waiting period before you can use Hospital cover for treatment for that condition.
When you switch between health funds to a similar level of cover, you probably won’t have to re-serve waiting periods you’ve already served again.
- Find out the waiting periods for different types of treatment.
- Understand that you'll have a 12 month waiting period before you can use your hospital cover for treatment for a pre-existing condition.
Should I just get the cheapest health insurance?
Some people like to get the minimum or basic cover but that doesn’t always mean they’re getting value for money. Paying a little more for a lot more cover could be worth it for you.
When choosing Extras cover, think about what kind of treatments you'll use throughout the year. Commonly used services include dental check ups, getting new glasses or contact lenses and visits to the chiro or physio. What's covered, where you can get your treatment and how much you'll be able to get back varies a lot between health funds, so take the time to make sure you know what you'll be entitled to.
- Make sure you understand what you're paying for.
- Paying slightly more could get you cover that's a better fit for your situation.
- Choose cover that you're going to use.
How easy is it to make a claim?
No one likes red tape. Making a claim should be as simple as possible. Paperwork is unavoidable for some kinds of claims. For others, you should be able to do it on-the-spot at your Extras provider, online or even on your smartphone.
- Ask whether you can claim online, via smartphone app, in person or via post.
- Ask how long will it take for claims to be processed.
How easy will it be to make changes to your health cover?
You’re not the same person you were yesterday. And you won’t be the same person tomorrow (or next year for that matter). Maybe you’ll start thinking about having a family. Maybe the kids will leave home. Perhaps you’ll head overseas for a year or two. Or maybe you’ll simply find a better deal and want to switch cover.
- Find out whether you can suspend your policy.
- Find out how easy it is to make changes or switch to a different policy.
What other types of insurance are on offer?
Some health funds let you bundle your insurance and may offer member discounts on other types of insurance that you might want. Think pet, travel, or life insurance.
- Find out whether members get a special discount for additional types of insurance.
Ready to explore health cover options?
With so many options to choose from, picking the right health insurance can be overwhelming but we've kept it simple.
Hospital and Extras offer – Want 6 weeks free and up to $500 in gift cards?
Join and maintain eligible Bronze hospital and extras cover or above and you could get 6 weeks free plus 50,000 Live Better points (couples and families) or 25,000 Live Better points (singles and single parents) to redeem on rewards like gift cards. We’ll also waive 2&6 month waiting periods on extras. Use promo code: 6WEEKSPLUS. Offer ends 31 July 2024. New members only.€
€ For new members on new memberships who join and start eligible combined Bronze hospital and extras cover or above from 1 July – 31 July 2024 and who have not held Medibank health cover in previous 60 days (unless they are dependents coming off their parent’s cover). Must quote promo code ‘6WEEKSPLUS’ and set up direct debit when joining. Excludes Basic cover, Corporate covers, Hospital only cover, Extras only cover, Accident Cover, Overseas Visitors Health Cover, Overseas Workers Health Cover, Overseas Students Health Cover (OSHC), Ambulance Cover, ahm covers, and other selected covers. Not available to Medibank employees. Not available with any other offer. Medibank reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions from time to time.
6 weeks free terms: Must maintain direct debit and hold eligible cover for 42 consecutive days from the policy start date to get next 6 weeks free. The 6 weeks free will not be issued if you change to an ineligible cover, terminate your cover or suspend your cover during this period.
2&6 month waits waived on extras terms: 2&6 month waiting periods on extras waived. Other waiting periods apply (including 12 months on some dental services). Annual limits apply. If you're switching from another fund and you’ve used any of your current limits (at that fund), that will count towards your annual limits with us. If you've reached your limits at your previous fund you may not be able to claim straight away on extras.
Live Better rewards points terms: Must maintain direct debit and hold eligible product for 42 consecutive days from the policy start date to receive Live Better rewards points. The points will not be issued if you change to an ineligible cover, terminate your cover or suspend your cover during this period. Policyholder will require access to a smartphone and will need to download the My Medibank app. Policyholder will need to have registered a My Medibank account, sign up to Live Better via the My Medibank app and track a Live Better activity within 42 consecutive days from the policy start date. Must be 16 years or over to register for Live Better. Live Better rewards points could take up to 10 weeks from the policy start date to be loaded to the policyholder’s Live Better account. Singles and single parents will receive 25,000 Live Better rewards points, and families and couples will receive 50,000 Live Better rewards points.
Live Better rewards terms: Must be a Medibank member with eligible hospital cover, extras cover, or hospital and extras cover, be up-to-date with premium payments and have signed up to Live Better via the My Medibank app to redeem rewards. Additional terms and conditions may apply to the redemption of a reward depending on the type of reward chosen. Read full Medibank Live Better terms here: https://www.medibank.com.au/livebetter/rewards/terms/