Health insurance and tax
The best health insurance for you will depend on your budget and personal circumstances. Our experts have chosen a bunch of picks that will be great for a lot of folks, but these should only be used as a guide. You should always read the PDS to know if a product is a good fit for you.
The top picks were updated by our team of insurance experts after 80+ hours of research across 45+ health funds. They were reviewed by insurance publisher Tim Bennett in August 2024.
Basic Hospital Plus Elevate $750/$1500 Excess
Hospital onlyOne of the only good value basic hospital policies on the market. Many basic policies don't cover any hospital treatments. HBF Basic Elevate covers 18. Bonus points – it lets you avoid the Medicare levy surcharge (MLS) (the tax you need to pay if you earn over $97,000 as a single). The not-for-profit also won Finder's 2024 best health fund of the year award.
Pros
Cons
It won the 2024 Finder Awards for best basic hospital policy for the second year in a row. These awards compared all eligible basic hospital policies on the market. It won based on value for money, covering more treatments in a private hospital for a lower premium than any other fund. While basic hospital cover allows you to avoid paying the MLS if you earn over $97,000 a year as a single or $194,000 as a couple, it's often terrible value for money – many don't cover any hospital treatments at all. HBF's Basic Plus Elevate actually gives you some cover in return for your money. Additionally, 92.5% of hospital services have no out-of-pocket costs, according to the latest ombudsman report. That's more than all 23 other open membership insurers, including the 4 major funds, Bupa, HCF, Medibank and nib. Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Cancer
Dental surgery
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Hernia and appendix
Joint reconstructions
Kidney and bladder
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Skin
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
ahm health insurance
ahm won the 2023 Finder Customer Satisfaction award. Out of the 750+ customers surveyed, it scored highly for customer service, value for money and application process. It also has some of the cheapest hospital policies on the market.
Pros
Cons
We asked 765 Australian customers for their opinion about their health fund. ahm scored highly for ease of application and customer service. 86% of people said they would recommend it to a friend. No fund did better than this. In total, there were 8 eligible health funds included in Finder's 2023 Customer Satisfaction Awards, including Bupa, Medibank, Australian Unity and HCF. We've also used complaints data from the Ombudsman's State of the Health Funds Report. *Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
HCF HOSPITAL BRONZE PLUS $750 EXCESS
Hospital onlyThis won the Finder Award for best value bronze policy for the second year in a row. It scored higher than all 100+ bronze plans we assessed. It covers 25 hospital treatments – 7 more than a standard bronze policy. The not-for-profit also has a really strong record of giving its money back towards members.
Pros
Cons
HCF was the winner of our bronze category at the 2024 Finder Awards. It covered more treatments for less money than any other fund. Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Hernia and appendix
Joint reconstructions
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Palliative care
Medically necessary plastic surgery
Podiatric surgery
Skin
Sleep studies
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
Medibank Gold Protect + Growing Family 70
Hospital and ExtrasThis comes with lots of benefits you don't get with other insurers. In addition to pregnancy cover, continuity of care and IVF cover, you get access to its 24/7 Medibank Nurse service, an OptimalMe program for mums-to-be and a pregnancy health concierge. The Growing Family Extras cover includes antenatal and postnatal classes.
Pros
Cons
Medibank offers a lot of pregnancy-related benefits that you won't get with other insurers, including 24/7 Medibank Nurse service, an OptimalMe program for mums-to-be and a pregnancy health concierge. Additionally, the extras portion of the policy goes further than others we researched including ahm, Bupa, St.Lukes and HBF. Medibank is also above average for percentage of extras charges covered (52.60% vs 49% overall) according to the latest ombudsman report. Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
Assisted reproductive services
Back neck and spine
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cataracts
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Dialysis for chronic kidney failure
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Heart and vascular system
Hernia and appendix
Hospital psychiatric services
Implantation of hearing devices
Insulin pumps
Joint reconstructions
Joint replacements
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Pain management with device
Palliative care
Medically necessary plastic surgery
Podiatric surgery
Pregnancy and birth
Rehabilitation
Skin
Sleep studies
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
Weight loss surgery
General Dental
Major Dental
Endodontic
Orthodontic
Optical
Non-PBS Pharmaceuticals
Physiotherapy
Chiropractic
Podiatry
Psychology
Acupuncture
Remedial Massage
Glucose monitor
Qantas' silver hospital policy was highly commended in the 2024 Finder health insurance awards because it offered some of the best value coverage among other silver hospital policies. Qantas is also offering new customers up to 120,000 Qantas Points over 6 months when you join an eligible combined policy by 13 September – the more comprehensive your cover, the more points you'll earn. T&Cs apply. You also get 1 Qantas point per $1 spent on premiums.
Pros
Cons
Bronze Plus Simple Hospital $750 Excess + Top Extras
Hospital and ExtrasThis combined hospital and extras policy could be good for complete families. Bupa's Top Extras policy covers orthodontics, dental check-ups are free with certain dentists and there's no excess for kids. You're also exempt from paying the Medicare levy surcharge if you earn over $194,000 a year as a family.
Pros
Cons
Every family has slightly different health needs, so you should always do your own research and make sure the policy covers the treatments you and your family want. We selected Bupa because it has several benefits for families. It has one of the largest hospital networks in Australia, no excess for kids, $0 dental check-ups for the family at Member First Platinum dentists, orthodontics are included with its Top Extras and your children can stay on the policy until 31. Plus, 91.1% of Bupa's medical services have no gap. This is the 7th best out of all open membership health funds. There are 23 in total. Its Bronze Plus Simple Hospital option is also one of the cheapest bronze policies on the market. Out of 118 policies, it was the 4th cheapest, $1 more than ahm. Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Hernia and appendix
Joint reconstructions
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Podiatric surgery
Skin
Sleep studies
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
General Dental
Major Dental
Endodontic
Orthodontic
Optical
Non-PBS Pharmaceuticals
Physiotherapy
Chiropractic
Podiatry
Psychology
Acupuncture
Remedial Massage
Hearing aids
Glucose monitor
Silver Hospital $750/$1500 Excess
Hospital onlyHBF won a lot at this year's Finder Awards, including health fund of the year and best value silver policy. HBF Silver covers 30 treatments (4 more than a standard silver policy) and is cheaper than its competitors. Government data also shows it has the best track record for no gap, hospital charges covered and benefits.
Pros
Cons
It won the 2024 Finder Awards for best silver hospital policy. These awards compared all eligible basic hospital policies on the market. It won based on value for money, covering more treatments in a private hospital for a lower premium than any other fund. Plus, 92.5% of HBF's hospital services have no out-of-pocket costs, according to the latest ombudsman report. That's the best out of all open membership insurers. Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
Back neck and spine
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Heart and vascular system
Hernia and appendix
Implantation of hearing devices
Insulin pumps
Joint reconstructions
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Pain management with device
Palliative care
Medically necessary plastic surgery
Podiatric surgery
Skin
Sleep studies
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
Medibank Gold Protect + Top Extras 60
Hospital and ExtrasThis product is well-priced for what it covers. There are cheaper policies but they don't include as many treatments. For example, you could pay around $68 per week and be covered for 10 extras treatments or, with Medibank, you could pay around $75 per week (just $7 more) and be covered for 14 treatments.
Pros
Cons
We picked this product for seniors because it includes thorough, comprehensive cover. Additionally, we picked it because it covers more than other combined gold and extras policies, yet remains competitively priced.
Assisted reproductive services
Back neck and spine
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cataracts
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Dialysis for chronic kidney failure
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Heart and vascular system
Hernia and appendix
Hospital psychiatric services
Implantation of hearing devices
Insulin pumps
Joint reconstructions
Joint replacements
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Pain management with device
Palliative care
Medically necessary plastic surgery
Podiatric surgery
Pregnancy and birth
Rehabilitation
Skin
Sleep studies
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
Weight loss surgery
General Dental
Major Dental
Endodontic
Orthodontic
Optical
Non-PBS Pharmaceuticals
Physiotherapy
Chiropractic
Podiatry
Psychology
Acupuncture
Remedial Massage
Hearing aids
Glucose monitor
advanced hospital gold + Lifestyle Extras
Hospital and ExtrasThis product is particularly good for mental health as the extras portion of this policy does not have a waiting period to access psychology and counselling services — it's the only provider to do this.
Pros
Cons
We picked this product because it offers comprehensive coverage when looking specifically at mental health benefits. While there are other policies with higher cover limits, ahm's extras policy waives the waiting periods and we believe that timely access to these benefits can be helpful to those needing access to mental health services.
Assisted reproductive services
Back neck and spine
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cataracts
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Dialysis for chronic kidney failure
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Heart and vascular system
Hernia and appendix
Hospital psychiatric services
Implantation of hearing devices
Insulin pumps
Joint reconstructions
Joint replacements
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Pain management with device
Palliative care
Medically necessary plastic surgery
Podiatric surgery
Pregnancy and birth
Rehabilitation
Skin
Sleep studies
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
Weight loss surgery
General Dental
Major Dental
Endodontic
Orthodontic
Optical
Non-PBS Pharmaceuticals
Physiotherapy
Chiropractic
Psychology
Acupuncture
Remedial Massage
Basic Hospital Plus Elevate $500/$1000 Excess
Hospital onlyHBF's basic hospital plus elevate health insurance policy is great for under 30s who are looking for a basic policy to avoid paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). It's relatively cheap yet covers a few more treatments than other basic policies. If you're young, healthy and looking for a tax-purposes policy, this could be worth looking at.
Pros
Cons
We picked this policy because it won the 2024 Finder Award for Basic Hospital. It won because it's a good value for money policy that lets you avoid the MLS, which is typically a motivator behind under 30s getting a health insurance policy.
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Cancer
Dental surgery
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Hernia and appendix
Joint reconstructions
Kidney and bladder
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Skin
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
HBF Flex 50 won Finder's Medium Extras cover award in both 2023 and 2024. This is because it gives you $800 to split across a bunch of benefits, including dental. You can either split the $800 or use it entirely on dental.
Pros
Cons
We picked HBF's Flex 50 extras only policy for dental because its high coverage limit means you can get up to $800 back on dental treatments. It is also the 2023 and 2024 award winner because it covered more treatments for less money than its competitors.
General Dental
Major Dental
Endodontic
Optical
Non-PBS Pharmaceuticals
Physiotherapy
Chiropractic
Psychology
Acupuncture
Remedial Massage
Bronze Plus Hospital 750
Hospital onlyIf you want more for your money, AIA could be a good health insurer for you. You get access to AIA Vitality, money off gym memberships, cashback on Virgin flights, money off gift cards and more. The Bronze Plus policy is particularly good value. It costs around $24 per week, $3 more than the cheapest bronze option, and covers 23 hospital services (5 more than is required for a bronze policy).
Pros
Cons
We picked AIA Health Insurance because it gives you access to AIA Vitality with all of its policies. Our insurance experts feel AIA is worth calling out because you can't get access to the same quality of health benefits with any other fund. However, everyone's needs are different so it's worth doing some research yourself. With GMHBA you can only get access to AIA Vitality with some policies. We selected the Bronze Plus option because it only costs marginally more than the cheapest bronze policies available and it covers 5 more treatments than a standard bronze hospital policy. AIA also received a lower percentage of complaints compared to GMHBA. You can also get AIA Vitality with CommBank. However, you need to be a CommBank customer, so we excluded it from eligibility. Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
Blood
Bone joint and muscle
Brain and nervous system
Breast surgery
Cancer
Dental surgery
Diabetes management
Digestive system
Ear nose and throat
Eye excluding cataracts
Gastrointestinal endoscopy
Gynaecology
Hernia and appendix
Joint reconstructions
Kidney and bladder
Lung and chest
Male reproductive system
Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
Pain management
Medically necessary plastic surgery
Podiatric surgery
Skin
Tonsils adenoids and grommets
If you're looking for the best health insurance in Australia, it's basically impossible to get a single answer. Hospital vs extras, price, how much you're covered for, benefit limits, waiting periods and more – there's a lot to consider. The 11 policies above are a starting point.
Our sources include the 2024 Finder Health Insurance Awards, the ombudsman and APRA, plus customer reviews from the Finder Customer Satisfaction Awards.
Our product data comes directly from the government. You can actually download this data yourself, if that floats your boat. Unless you're a programmer though, it's not going to be very useful – not to mention incredibly boring – so we got our engineers to turn the data into something you can actually understand. The Ombudsman also releases the State of the Health Funds report every year. It includes reams of information about complaints, out of pocket expenses, extras services covered and more. We use it to determine our picks. APRA, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, releases quarterly statistics about the private health insurance industry, too. They help us to understand what kind of cover Australians are most likely to take out, so we're able to tailor our picks towards stuff you actually want and use.
We run the Health Insurance Customer Satisfaction Awards every year to find out what Australia's favourite health funds are. This year, we asked over 750 customers to rate their insurer based on features, customer service, value for money, ease of application, customer service and whether they would recommend it to a friend.
While it's hard to label any single company as the 'best', there are a few things to keep an eye out for that can help you understand each insurer's strengths. We've used data from the government's latest State of the Health Funds report to break down the top 5 for benefits paid, hospital-related charges covered and no-gap medical services.
We only looked at open membership funds – these are ones available to all Australians. If you're entitled to join a restricted membership fund though, it's worth considering. They sometimes perform better than open funds.
This is the percentage of total contributions the insurer received that it returned to contributors in benefits.
The is the proportion of private hospital charges covered on average.
This is the the proportion of medical services for which a gap is not payable by the patient.
These are the hospital insurance policies that came out on top in the 2024 Finder Awards. Each award category is based on the government's hospital tiers for gold, silver, bronze and basic policies.
Below are the results of the Finder 2023 health insurance Customer Satisfaction awards. These tell us which health funds Aussies think is the greatest for customer services and overall experience. We got responses from over 750 Australians to get these results. Funds without a score didn't get enough reviews for us to be confident of the results.
| Brand | Overall satisfaction | Customers who'd recommend |
|---|---|---|
| ★★★★★ 4.17/5 | 86% | |
| ★★★★★ 4.10/5 | 84% | |
| ★★★★★ 4.09/5 | 79% | |
| ★★★★★ 4.09/5 | 79% | |
| ★★★★★ 4.07/5 | 84% | |
| ★★★★★ 3.99/5 | 81% | |
| ★★★★★ 3.96/5 | 83% | |
| ★★★★★ 3.67/5 | 66% |
"If you think you might need an elective procedure such as a knee replacement or cataract operation in the next few years, health insurance is worthwhile as public hospital waiting lists can be very long."
Professor Luke Connelly Professor of health economics, University of QueenslandPro tip: Basic hospital policies let you avoid the MLS but they're often poor value. Basic plus or bronze policies give you more value for money.
Private health cover is a type of insurance available in Australia as an alternative to Medicare, which is Australia's public health care system. Even though all Australian citizens and permanent residents are eligible for Medicare, private health insurance will cover you for care in the private hospital system. This has a few benefits, including shorter waiting times for surgery, a private room, and the ability to choose your own surgeon in many cases. Private health insurance comes in 2 flavours in Australia, extras cover and hospital cover.
Not everyone needs private health insurance, but it has a lot of benefits that might make sense to you. If you're eligible for Medicare, then you'll always have access to emergency and medically necessary treatment for free in a public hospital. However, private health insurance gives you access to benefits including your choice of doctor, your own room, better amenities and shorter wait times for elective surgery. There's also extras and ambulance cover to think about, which can be worth it even if you're young and healthy. Find out if private health insurance might be worth it for you with this 1-minute quiz.
Medicare is Australia's public healthcare system, which entitles citizens and permanent residents access to life-saving care for free in a public hospital. Unfortunately, Medicare isn't perfect! for hospital care, there can be long waiting periods for elective surgery, you probably won't get to choose your own doctor, and you may have to share a hospital room. With private hospital cover, you can get these benefits in a private hospital. Additionally, Medicare doesn't cover many out of hospital services, such as dental, optical and ambulance. Private health insurance has options to cover these as well. Learn more about Medicare vs private health insurance.
The best hospital cover is the one that suits your needs and circumstances, so it may be different for everyone. However, HCF won the 2024 Finder Health Insurance Award for best fund and performed well in the government's State of the Funds report, so is a good place to start.
The best health insurance fund depends on what you're looking for. For some, that could be a not-for-profit and for others it could be the most popular health insurer. It might help you to know that HBF was awarded Finder's Best Health Fund award for 2024.
Since every family has different health needs, the easiest way to find a policy is to compare family options using our health insurance engine. For example, depending on your circumstances, you may want to get pregnancy cover if you plan to have kids or look for a policy that covers your teenager for free.
Many visitors and temporary workers aren't eligible for the same health insurance policies as Australians. Instead, you'll need overseas visitor health cover (OVHC). This is a type of health insurance designed specifically for non-Australian residents. These policies start from around $64.50 a month and at the very least should cover hospital care and repatriation. Some can also help pay for doctor's appointments, prescription medicine and out-of-hospital treatment such as dental.
There are lots of ways to get cheaper health insurance including paying annually, joining a restricted fund if you're eligible and mixing and matching your hospital and extras cover because it often costs less to get a policy with 2 different funds.
No gap in Australian health insurance means you won't pay any extra fees on top of your regular premiums for specific services. Your insurer covers the full cost beyond what Medicare pays for things like surgery or certain treatments. Just remember, it only applies to specific services and policies can vary, so always check the details with your provider to avoid any surprises.
Medibank Gold Protect + Growing Family 70 is a great option for those looking for pregnancy cover in their health insurance. It's good because it comes with benefits you don't get with other insurers, such as 24/7 access to Medibank Nurse - an OptimalMe program for mums-to-be and pregnancy health concierge. It also includes antenatal and postnatal classes.
Keep in mind, what's best is different from person to person. Be sure to look at many options and carefully read through the inclusions of each policy before making your decision.
To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Tim Bennett as part of our fact-checking process.
Gary Ross Hunter was an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). See full bio
Gary Ross's expertiseHealth insurance and tax
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