Canstar’s 2019 award winning overseas student working visa health cover

HCF and the nib subsidiary IMAN Australian Health Plans have taken out Canstar’s 2019 Outstanding Value Award for Working Visa Health Cover.

Health insurer nib has also won Canstar’s 2019 Outstanding Value Award for Overseas Student Health Cover.

The winners were identified using Canstar’s sophisticated ratings methodology which compares health insurance policies in the market on both price and features for those travelling to Australia for study or for work.

Five overseas student health cover providers and 11 working visa health cover providers were assessed as part of these awards.

Those that received a Canstar 5-Star Rating have been identified as offering outstanding value to consumers.

To be eligible for the Working Visa Health Cover Star Ratings, policies must cover treatment in a private hospital and assist the visa holder in complying with Australia’s visa condition 8501, which requires the holder to maintain adequate health insurance for themselves and their family.

As for Canstar’s Overseas Student Health Cover Star Ratings and Awards, the policy must meet the following criteria:

• The policy and its provider must be approved by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
• The policy must not be restricted solely to members of a specific organisation
• The policy must be available for each visa term: 1,2,3,4 and 5 years (5 years is the maximum student visa term in Australia)

Below are the key reasons as to why IMAN (nib), nib and HCF are this year’s award winners.

IMAN Australian Health Plans

This provider has won the Working Visa Health Cover Award for a fourth consecutive year.

Canstar Research found IMAN (nib) provided affordable basic policies as seen in the table below of its Budget Working Visitor Cover.

The Budget Working Visitor Cover fully covers the cost of most private hospital treatments, such as:

• Accidents
• Joint replacements
• Back surgery
• Cancer
• Colonoscopies
• Eye treatments and surgery
• Heart procedures
• All treatments and services covered by Medicare

In addition, it pays a portion of the cost for gastric banding, palliative care, pregnancy and psychiatric treatment. It also includes medical repatriation to the policyholder’s home country and ambulance cover for medically necessary transport provided by a State and Territory ambulance service.

HCF

This provider was found to offer outstanding value working visa cover. Like IMAN (nib), HCF has an affordable basic policy called Overseas Visitors Basic.

HCF Overseas Visitors Basic policy provides cover for 100% of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and also covers many private hospital treatments, including:

• Accidents
• Back surgery
• Colonoscopies
• Brain surgery
• Joint replacements
• Cancer

It also covers some of the costs for gastric banding, pregnancy and psychiatric treatment, and medical repatriation of up to $50,000 to the policyholder’s home country.

Medicines given to policyholders discharged from hospital are covered if they are part of Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme as part of ongoing treatment.

Nib

Nib’s Overseas Student Health Cover premiums were found to be competitive across singles, couples and family policies.

Its singles cover was particularly affordable, which contributed the most to this award.

For example, the market average premium for a singles policy according to Canstar’s database is $506.26 for one year, while nib’s premium for singles was $479 as seen in the table below. Prices are current as of March 2019.

Compare Overseas Student Health Insurance