Compare Basic health insurance

The table below shows a selection of Basic hospital cover policies from our Online Partners.

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The initial results in the table above are sorted by Star Rating (High-Low) , then Monthly premium (approx) (Low-High) , then Provider Name (Alphabetical) . Additional filters may have been applied, which impact the results displayed in the table - filters can be applied or removed at any time.

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What is Basic health insurance?

Basic health insurance offers the minimum amount of hospital cover that a private health insurance policy can provide. Hospital cover comes in four tiers: Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold, with ‘Plus’ versions of these policies for certain tiers offering coverage for some additional procedures. Basic is the entry level tier that offers the lowest amount of hospital services covered as standard and is often the most affordable.

What is covered by Basic health insurance?

The Basic tier of private hospital insurance provides you with the minimum of cover for treatment received as part of a hospital admission.

There are 38 categories of treatment defined in the four-tier structure, as listed on the Federal Government’s website privatehealth.gov.au. It lists the minimum requirement for Basic hospital cover as:

  • Rehabilitation (Restricted): Physical rehabilitation related to surgery or illness. For example, stroke recovery and cardiac rehabilitation.
  • Hospital psychiatric services (Restricted): Treatment and care of patients with psychiatric, mental, addiction or behavioural disorders. For example, schizophrenia, depression, eating disorders, addiction therapy and post-natal depression.
  • Palliative care (Restricted): Providing quality of life care for a patient with a terminal illness, including treatment to alleviate and manage pain.

Note that this cover will be offered on a restricted basis. You’re partially covered for hospital costs as a private patient in a public hospital, but may incur some significant out-of-pocket expenses. For example, you won’t be covered for a private room in a public hospital or any room in a private hospital. If you only have basic hospital cover, it’s a good idea to check with your insurer and chosen hospital for details of any fees and other charges you may incur before receiving any treatment.

If you’re signing up for a new policy, or upgrading an existing one, you may find there are waiting periods that apply before you can make any claims, anything from two to 12 months depending on the condition.

You should read policy documents, such as the Private Health Information Statement (PHIS), to see what is and isn’t included in any Basic health insurance policy.

How much does Basic health insurance cost?

How much any Basic health insurance policy costs will depend on your age and healthcare needs, as well as what state or territory you live in. It’ll also depend on whether you’re single or seeking a couples health insurance or family health insurance policy, and whether you want any ‘Extras’ cover for non-hospital treatments (e.g. dental, optical, physio etc.).

You can compare Basic health insurance policies from our Online Partners and their approximate monthly costs by using the table above. You can also change the filters to better suit your requirements.

Is Basic hospital cover sufficient to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Health Cover loading?

A Basic hospital cover policy can help you avoid the MLS and LHC if it’s:

  • Provided by a registered health insurer
  • and has a maximum policy excess of $750 for singles and $1,500 for couples or families.

Note: the policy excess refers to the amount of money you contribute when making a claim on your insurance.

The MLS is a means tested surcharge of up to 1.5% of your taxable earnings charged by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), while the LHC refers to a loading (up to 70%) on the price of your health insurance premiums if you don’t take out private health insurance before the age of 31.

Is Basic health insurance worth it?

This will ultimately depend on your healthcare needs and financial situation. You may consider Basic hospital cover if:

Frequently Asked Questions about Basic Health Insurance

Basic health insurance won’t cover you for any of the other 35 categories of treatment that form part of the Bronze or higher tiers of private health insurance. They include:

  • Brain and nervous system
  • Eye (not cataract)
  • Ear, nose and throat
  • Tonsils, adenoids and grommets
  • Bone, joint and muscle
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Kidney and bladder
  • Male reproductive system
  • Digestive system
  • Hernia and appendix
  • Gastrointestinal endoscopy
  • Gynaecology
  • Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy
  • Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy for cancer
  • Pain management
  • Skin
  • Breast surgery (medically necessary)
  • Diabetes management
  • Heart and vascular system
  • Lung and chest
  • Blood
  • Back, neck and spine
  • Plastic and reconstructive surgery (medically necessary)
  • Dental surgery
  • Podiatric surgery (provided by a registered podiatric surgeon)
  • Implantation of hearing devices
  • Cataracts
  • Joint replacements
  • Dialysis for chronic kidney failure
  • Pregnancy and birth
  • Assisted reproductive services
  • Weight loss surgery
  • Insulin pumps
  • Pain management with device
  • Sleep studies

Your health insurer may decide to include some of these other categories of treatment in certain policies, that’s where you might consider a ‘Basic Plus’ (Basic+) level of cover.

A Basic Plus policy offers extra categories of treatment, but not enough to push the policy into another tier of cover such as Bronze. You may have to pay more for a plus policy. What additional categories of treatment are offered can vary between providers so you may have to shop around to find a policy that suits your personal and healthcare needs, as well as your financial situation.

The Federal Government introduced the hospital cover tiers during its private health insurance reforms in 2019 in an effort to make hospital cover easier to understand for Australian consumers. It requires health funds to categorise their hospital policies into four tiers: Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold, with the option to include Plus tiers such as Basic Plus, Bronze Plus and Silver Plus.

The private health insurance rebate is an amount of money that the Federal Government may contribute towards the cost of your health insurance premiums. The rebate is income tested, meaning your rebate will be reduced if you have a higher income, or you might not be entitled to any rebate at all.

The Federal Government introduced the private health insurance rebate in 1999 in a bid to encourage more Aussies to take out private health cover and to help relieve pressure on the public health system.

The main difference between private and public hospitals comes down to choice, where private patients have more say over their healthcare while in hospital, such as being able to potentially choose their own hospital and doctors, have their own private room (if one is available) and have a shorter wait time for elective surgeries.

The benefit of public hospitals, however, are that they generally offer health services free of charge or at a reduced cost to Medicare-eligible patients and are subsidised by the Federal Government, whereas private hospitals require patients to pay for the health services they received (although they may be partially subsidised by Medicare).

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Nick Whiting, Content Producer

Nick Whiting
Nick is a Content Producer at Canstar, providing assistance to Canstar's Editorial Finance Team in its mission to empower consumers to take control of their finances. He has written hundreds of articles for Canstar across all key finance topics. Coming from a screenwriting background, Nick completed a Bachelor of Film, Television and New Media Production from Queensland University of Technology. Nick has also completed RG 146 (Tier 1), making him compliant to provide general advice for general insurance products like car, home, travel and health insurance, as well as giving him knowledge of investment options such as shares, derivatives, futures, managed investments, currencies and commodities. Nick’s role at Canstar allows him to combine his love of the written word with his interest in finance, having learned the art of share trading from his late grandfather. Nick strives to deliver clear and straightforward content that helps the everyday consumer navigating the world of finance. Nick is also working on a TV series in his spare time. You can connect with Nick on LinkedIn.

Joshua Sale, GM, Research

Joshua Sale

As Canstar’s Group Manager, Research, Ratings & Product Data, Josh Sale is responsible for the methodology and delivery of Canstar’s Health Insurance Star Ratings and Awards. With tertiary qualifications in economics and finance, Josh has worked behind the scenes for the last five years to develop Star Ratings and Awards that help connect consumers with the right product for them.

Josh is passionate about helping consumers get hands-on with their finances. Josh has been interviewed by media outlets such as the Australian Financial Reviewnews.com.au and Money Magazine.

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Important information

For those that love the detail

This advice is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this advice is right for you.

Canstar may earn a fee from its Online Partners for referrals from its website tables, and from sponsorship or promotion of certain products. Fees payable by product providers for referrals and sponsorship or promotion may vary between providers, website position, and revenue model. Sponsorship/promotion fees may be higher than referral fees. If a product is sponsored or promoted, it’s an ad and it is clearly marked as such. An ad might appear in different places on our website, such as in comparison tables and articles. Ads may be displayed in a fixed position in a table, regardless of the product's rating, price or other attributes. The location of an ad doesn’t indicate any ranking or rating by Canstar. Payment of fees for ads does not influence our Star Ratings. See How We Get Paid to find out more. Payment of fees for ads does not influence our Star Ratings or Awards.

Canstar is a member of the Private Health Insurance Intermediaries Association (“PHIIA”) and is a signatory to the PHIIA Code of Conduct.

If you click a 'book a call' button you will be redirected to ItsMyGroup Pty Ltd (ABN 85 167 289 965) (“ItsMyHealth”). Canstar has partnered with ItsMyHealth to help you compare and switch health insurance. The health insurance comparison and call back service is powered by ItsMyHealth. Canstar is not responsible to you for any advice ItsMyHealth provides to you. If you make a decision to enter into a health insurance policy, you are responsible for all fees payable in relation to that policy. Before applying for any health insurance policy, you should read and understand the product information. Consider the Product Summary to obtain full details of inclusions, exclusions, waiting periods and all limits that may apply. 

Both Canstar and ItsMyHealth are members of the Private Health Insurance Intermediaries Association (“PHIIA”) and are signatories to the PHIIA Code of Conduct.

Canstar is not providing a recommendation for your individual circumstances. We cannot and do not recommend that any particular product is suitable for you. 

We provide links to our Online Partners. These are brands that may pay Canstar a fee for referring you. Our tables default to display only our Online Partners’ products initially, you can adjust the Online Partner Filter to see all of the products available for comparison on Canstar’s website. We provide these links so that you can click through to the product provider’s website to get more information. The provision of these links does not constitute a recommendation by Canstar.

Any advice on this page is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this general advice is right for your personal circumstances. You may need advice from a qualified adviser. Canstar is not providing a recommendation for your individual circumstances. If you decide to apply for an insurance policy, you will deal directly with the provider, not with Canstar.  It’s important you check product information directly with the provider. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement before making a purchase decision. For more information, read our Detailed Disclosure.

The Health Insurance Star Ratings were awarded in November 2024 and data in the table is current as at that date, updated from time to time to reflect product changes notified to us by product issuers. The results don’t include every provider in the market and we may not compare all features relevant to you. You can find a description of the initial sort order below the table. You can use the sort buttons at the top of each column to re-order the display. Learn more about our Health Insurance Star Rating Methodology. The rating shown is only one factor to take into account when considering products.

The products and Star Ratings in the table might not match your exact inputs in the selector. Sometimes the methodology uses profiles with categories or bands (e.g. income, loan amount or monthly spend), but sometimes a single methodology, without any categories or bands, is applied. The results will show the products that most closely match your selection, based on our profiles. If you are unsure about any terms used in the comparison table please refer to the glossary.

Companies listed in the table, or in ads, may use or be used by another company to arrange, issue, distribute or sell its insurance policies to customers. For more information on the issuer of the policy, please read the Product Disclosure Statement.

If you are seeking to replace an insurance policy, you should consider your personal circumstances, including continuing the existing cover until the replacement policy is issued and cover confirmed. Your current policy may have different features to products currently on the market. Please consider what features are right for you when comparing insurance products and refer to the provider for further details on a policy.

What is a Target Market Determination?

A Target Market Determination (‘TMD’) is a document that explains which people particular financial products may be suitable for (the target market) and sets out any conditions around how financial products can be distributed to consumers.

Why do product issuers provide Target Market Determinations?

From 5 October 2021, TMDs are compulsory for most financial products.

Issuers and distributors of financial products must take reasonable steps that are likely to result in financial products reaching consumers in the target market defined by the product issuer.

We recommend that you consider the TMD before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the TMD.