What cover is available?

There are two basic kinds of private health insurance available in the market - hospital cover and general (sometimes called ancillary or extras) cover. Hospital cover provide benefits when you go to hospital as a private patient. (see Government incentives)

If you wish, you can go to any public hospital (that is a hospital operated by the government) as a Medicare patient and be treated without charge by a doctor appointed by the hospital. As a Medicare patient, you will usually be asked to wait your turn with other Medicare patients unless your treatment is considered to be an emergency.

Instead, you can choose to go to any hospital (government or otherwise) as a private patient. Then, you have the right to choose the doctors who treat you, and you can often avoid going on a waiting list.

Private patients must pay the hospital and the doctors who treat them and only some of these charges are covered by Medicare. Private hospital cover is designed to help you with the extra costs you incur as a private patient in hospital and after discharge from hospital.

There are different hospital covers available in the market – some designed for people who expect to incur frequent or large private hospital expenses and who want generous benefits, and others designed for people who are rarely in hospital or who are willing to pay some private hospital costs directly themselves.

General (ancillary or extras) cover provides benefits for health services you get from dentists, opticians, chiropractors and physiotherapists. Many of these services are not covered by Medicare, so private coverage is the only insurance option.

The services of doctors - GPs and specialists - are covered by Medicare. Private health insurance is available for these only to cover "gaps" between the Medicare benefits and doctors' prices when the doctors' services are provided in a hospital, but not otherwise.

The variety and levels of covers offered in the market are very broad. You can purchase hospital and general cover in combinations or, for most products, on a stand alone basis too. You can buy hospital cover from one insurer and general cover from a different one, if that suits you.

There are websites that allow you to compare various funds and products so you can select the appropriate one for you and your family. Ozecover is a comprehensive one that provides a free service and importantly includes all insurers and every product in the comparison. Click here to compare private health insurance and make sure you are getting the right coverage.