Private health insurance helps cover the cost of your health care needs. It enables you to claim a benefit from HIF which goes towards the cost of your treatment.

There are two types of private health insurance you can purchase - Hospital Cover and Extras Cover. 

Emergency and non-emergency ambulance cover is available on eligible Hospital and Extras policies. 

With more than 35 private health funds now operating in Australia, it's no wonder the different business structures can get a bit confusing at times!

Essentially, a 'for-profit' health fund aim to make a profit from the premiums paid by their members, after benefit payments and operating costs are taken into account.

In comparison, a 'not-for-profit' health fund (like HIF) means that it's a mutual organisation, with all premiums paid into the fund being used to operate the business and cover benefits for members. 

HIF is a not-for-profit, here-for-you health fund.

By preserving our status as a registered open-access, not-for-profit member focused private health insurer, we qualify for exemption from income tax assessment under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (although we are subject to other forms of taxation). Unlike many Australian health funds, we don't have shareholders. Moreover, cash dividends are not paid directly to our fund members. Instead, we return any surpluses to our members in the form of lower premiums, increased rebates and new benefits and services. This is our way of rewarding our loyal members.

Whether we’re answering your call, or helping you switch from another health fund, we don’t like to keep people waiting. But unfortunately waiting periods (the time you have to wait before you can claim for treatment) are a universal necessity. All health funds have them. We wouldn't be able to offer our affordable premiums and generous rebates without them.

Waiting periods protect us and our members against people who simply join us, claim large amounts and then leave. That’s why, if you join us from another health fund, we’ll consider any waiting periods served on your previous membership into account so you don’t have to re-serve waiting periods on an equivalent level of cover.

• View Hospital waiting periods
• View Extras waiting periods

Did you know... Waiting periods for different services can sometimes vary between health insurers, but the Government pre-defines maximum waiting periods for certain hospital benefits, including:

• 12 months for pregnancy and birth-related services
• 12 months for pre-existing conditions and ailments
• 2 months for psychiatric care, rehabilitation and palliative care (regardless of whether it's pre-existing or not)
• 2 months for general hospitalisation

Waiting period exemption for Psychiatric Care: New members transferring from another health fund who previously had restricted psychiatric cover, can now upgrade their policy without serving a two month waiting period for the higher or additional benefits. The waiting period exemption for psychiatric care benefits can only be accessed once in a lifetime, and is only available after a person has served their initial two month waiting period for any psychiatric cover.

Our Hospital policies help to cover the costs of inpatient treatment such as hospital accommodation, theatre fees and charges raised by your doctor. All medical services listed under the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) are covered by private hospital insurance, depending on your level of cover. Services such as elective cosmetic surgery though (which are not included on the MBS), are not covered through private hospital insurance under any policy.

There’s a number of reasons why private hospital insurance may be a better option than relying solely on the public system! Your policy allows you to choose your own hospital, doctor and specialist, the option to stay in a private room* (if it’s available and included on your cover) and the peace of mind knowing that you can avoid lengthy public hospital waiting lists.

Extras cover provides benefits for non-medical health services that aren't covered by Medicare - for example physio, chiro, dental and optical treatment.

The pre-existing condition waiting period applies to new members and members upgrading their policy to any higher level benefits under the new policy. A pre-existing condition is defined as: ‘Any ailment, illness, or condition where, in the opinion of a medical adviser appointed by the health insurer, the signs or symptoms of that illness, ailment or condition existed at any time in the period of six months ending on the day on which the person became insured under the policy.’

A pre-existing condition can be identified by the presence of signs or symptoms of the illness, ailment or condition (i.e. it’s not necessary for the member or their doctor to know what their condition is, or for it to be diagnosed). In assessing whether a condition/illness is a pre-existing condition or not, an HIF-appointed medical practitioner will take into account information provided by your treating doctor. This rule applies whether the condition was known to the member or not.