That depends on the cost of providing services to members of our Overseas Health Covers at any given time. As medical costs are generally on the rise, we must review our premiums to ensure our Overseas Health Covers remain sustainable and will meet the needs and claiming pattern of members. So, we can't say that premiums won't go up in the future, but we're working hard to keep both premiums down as much as we can and deliver more value back to our members.

No. Unlike the premium changes affecting Australian resident covers, health insurers set the premiums for Overseas Health Covers themselves based on the cost of providing the product to our members.

Changes to premiums depend on factors like the general product claiming patterns of members and new technology or legislative changes and associated costs. Members who have Overseas Health Covers are typically not Australian residents, and generally do not have their treatments subsidised by Medicare, so the premiums on Overseas Health Covers reflect the full cost to insurers of providing cover to members.

We'll let you know of any changes to your premium by email or mail as soon as possible. You'll pay the new premium when you make your next payment from 1 October 2020. Don't forget that you can choose how often you pay your premium: fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly.

Although insurers who offer Overseas Health Covers can change their rates at any time of the year, generally premium changes align with the Australian resident cover premium review period. This year, as part of our support to members during the COVID-19 pandemic, we postponed premium increases by six months to 1 October 2020. 

The industry average figure only relates to Australian resident covers, not to Overseas Health Covers.

Premium changes reflect the cost of providing health services to all members on the same level of cover, not the costs at an individual member level.

We have many products that pay towards various health services and treatments. Because the types of claims being made by members are different at each level of cover, this requires different premium rates be applied to cover the cost. 

Yes, members can prepay their premium up to 12 months at any time. Members can also 'lock in' their premium at their 2019 rate by prepaying prior to 30 September 2020 (ie. before the 1 October premium change).