How do I get health insurance for my children?
If you have, or are planning on having children, you can include them on your health insurance by taking out a family, or single parent, health insurance policy.
- A family health insurance policy will generally provide cover for you, your partner, and your eligible children (depending on the fund, it can be up to and including the age of 31).
- If you don’t have a partner, you can add your children to your health insurance by taking out a single parent health insurance policy.
- If you already have a health insurance policy, you may want to contact your health fund for details on how to add children to your private health insurance.
It’s important to know that if you are having a baby, and you have obstetrics cover but are on a single (or couple) policy, your baby’s care in a private hospital will not be covered by your policy. So, if your baby needs to be admitted to the private hospital for extra care, you’ll have to pay those costs.
What are the benefits of private health insurance for kids and dependants?
Besides the peace of mind of knowing your children are covered if they need medical treatment in private hospital, some other potential benefits to having private hospital and extras cover for your kids, include:
- Having a private room in hospital, if one's available
- Your choice of doctor or specialist
- Potential to skip public hospital lists
- Cover for the things families need, from dental appointments to treatment for sports injuries
- Cover for psychology
Medical care can be expensive, particularly with growing kids. With private health insurance for your kids, you can help to reduce your out-of-pocket costs and have more say in their treatment. Limits and exclusions may apply, so it’s important to carefully read through a policy’s PHIS before you take out a new policy.
How much does family health insurance cost?
How much you pay for a family health insurance policy will depend on several factors, including the level of cover you choose to take out and whether or not you or your partner (if you have one) have ever held health insurance, as this will determine whether you pay Lifetime Health Cover Loading.
To give you an idea of what you might pay, Canstar research crunched the numbers and found that, as of November 2025, the average premium cost for a young family (36 and under, with children) on a combined hospital and extras policy is around $474 per month. For an established family (36 to 59, with children), the average cost if around $558 a month.
5 points to consider for family health insurance
There are a handful of points you may want to keep in mind when considering taking out a new family health insurance policy, or adding children to your existing policy, including:
- If you and your children are likely to have medical needs that won’t be covered by a hospital policy, consider if an extras policy could take care of these needs. Check to see if the policy offers no-gap extras benefits for children on services such as dental checkups, x-rays, etc.
- In some cases, it may be more affordable for your family to hold separate health insurance policies. For example, if you’re paying for a high tier of hospital cover for pregnancy and birth, you may want to keep your partner off your policy so you’re not paying extra for unnecessary cover.
- Many health funds will let you change from a couples health insurance policy to a family policy at no cost. So, if your premiums change when you add a child to your policy, you may want to review your policy closely and consider your options.
- If you take out a new health insurance policy rather than adding children to an existing policy, bear in mind that you may need to serve waiting periods on the policy before you can start claiming benefits.
- If you’re planning on having a baby, check that your policy provides cover for pregnancy if you want to use relevant private hospital and/or medical services, non-medical and allied health services outside a hospital as part of your care.
According to the Commonwealth Ombudsman, all health funds have a 12-month waiting period on obstetric services. So if you’re wanting private health care during and after your pregnancy, you’ll need to make sure your policy provides this level of cover around three months or more before you (or your partner) conceive.
