Hospital Cover

There are many benefits to having private health insurance. While Medicare doesn’t cover the cost of everything you might need to maintain good health, private health insurance helps cover some of the out-of-pocket expenses for a range of health services and hospital expenses.

Depending on your income, having a level of Hospital cover may also have tax-related benefits. If your income is over $93,000 for singles ($186,000 for couples/families) and you take out and maintain private hospital cover for the full financial year, you could avoid paying an extra 1% to 1.5% in tax via the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). Visit the Australian Tax Office website for specific rules for calculating income for MLS purposes.

An excess is the amount you pay when you make a claim for medical treatment under your Hospital cover. It does not apply to Extras cover. Your excess can impact your premium – by choosing a lower excess, your monthly premiums will be higher than if you were to choose a higher excess. An excess is different to out-of-pocket expenses or a ‘gap’, which are fees that aren't covered by Medicare, and are in addition to your Hospital cover excess.

If you've served all waiting periods with your current insurer, you won't need to re-serve these. However, if you transfer before completing the waiting periods, you'll need to serve the remaining balance before you can claim. Additional waiting periods and higher annual limits may apply for services that aren't covered by your previous policy, if you've chosen a lower excess or if you wait more than 59 days after leaving your former insurer before taking out a new policy.

Waiting periods will apply for services not currently covered, services with higher benefits or where waiting periods haven’t been fully served. Where the excess on the new product is lower than the excess on the previous cover, the excess on the previous cover will apply until the unexpired waiting period has been served. Any benefit limits already used with your current fund will apply to your Real Health Insurance policy.

Australia’s public healthcare system is known as Medicare. It provides free or low-cost medical care for certain health issues, but can involve long waiting periods if your condition isn't life threatening. Private health insurance helps you avoid long public hospital waiting lists and gives you more freedom in who treats you and where. Private health cover also helps reduce out-of-pocket expenses for your treatment and services that aren't covered by Medicare. Please note coverage may differ depending on your level of cover and policy exclusions, waiting periods, hospital excess and limits and whether you go to an nib Agreement Hospital, a non-agreement private hospital or a public hospital.

Everyone has different needs when it comes to their health. When choosing the most suitable health insurance for your needs and budget, the first step is to consider whether you need cover as a single, couple or family. Next, decide what treatments and services you’d like to be covered for, then settle on your level of excess (if applicable) and monthly premium payments. With Real Health Insurance you can take out cover online in less than 10 minutes or call us on 1300 953 162 for more information.