Working visa health insurance

What is working visa health cover?

Working visa health cover, sometimes referred to as overseas visitor health cover, is a type of health insurance that the Australian Government requires you to have if you are an international worker visiting Australia to work. Working visa health cover pays part or all of the cost if you have to visit the doctor, go to hospital, need an ambulance, or need to buy pharmacy medicines.

International workers must have working visa health cover because, in the majority of cases, foreign residents and visitors cannot access the Australian public health system, so you need private health insurance to help pay for your healthcare and limit your financial liability. This is called Condition 8501. Many health insurers offer a specific type of health insurance that meets this condition.

You must have health insurance for the whole time you are in Australia on a working visa, and you must take out a policy before you arrive. If you extend your visa, you must renew your working visa health cover policy.

If your family is coming overseas with you on the visa, your spouse (husband or wife) and children under 18 years old must also be covered by working visa health cover. Your partner or family can be covered by your working visa even if they are not working. You need to choose a Couples or Family policy in order to cover someone other than yourself.

Some insurers may charge more for a couple’s policy than a policy for two single people. The cost of a family policy is often more than the cost of a couple’s policy — although sometimes the cost might also be the same.

If you decide that your health cover is too expensive or doesn’t cover what you want, you can switch to a different insurance provider, as long as you do not let your policy lapse.

What working visas require health insurance?

The 462 or 417 working holiday visas may be the most well-known working visas in Australia. But there are plenty of other working visas available, and most require health insurance.

Make sure when you apply for health cover that it will satisfy the conditions specific to your visa type. Use the Department of Home Affairs Visa Finder online to find out which working visa you need.

If you are from a country which has a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia (currently Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, or the United Kingdom), you may be able to enrol in Medicare, Australia’s public health insurance system. Visitors from these countries do not need to buy health insurance as a condition of their visa, but the Australian government strongly recommends that all visitors take out private health insurance, since Medicare only covers medically necessary treatment.

Since you cannot enrol in Medicare from outside Australia, you will still need to have adequate health cover before you arrive. Medicare only covers treatment in a public hospital, so you will still need to consider whether private health insurance is right for you. Furthermore, not having an adequate level of private health cover might mean you have to pay a larger amount of tax in Australia in the form of Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS).

What does working visa health insurance cover?

There are three levels of cover for working visa health insurance:

• Hospital cover
• Hospital and Medical cover
• Hospital, Medical and Extras cover

At a minimum, working visa health insurance will help cover the costs involved in being admitted to a hospital within Australia. This includes the cost of staying in a hospital bed overnight, operating theatre fees for surgery, medicines, the cost of any medical procedures, and riding in an ambulance in an emergency. Policies with extras may also cover some types of medical services that are used outside of a hospital such as dental.

Hospital cover should include all surgical procedures covered on the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS), such as:

• Ambulance services
• Emergency accidental injury
• Your stay in a private hospital (for private hospital polices)
• Your stay overnight in a private or shared room (accommodation)
• Your stay in a public hospital as a private patient (accommodation)
• Same day admission fee
• Surgery operating theatre fees
• Doctor’s fee for in-hospital medical services as a private patient
• Pharmacy medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) taken while in hospital
• Cardiac (heart services)
• Ear, nose and throat
• Removal of appendix (appendicitis)
• Removal of tonsils and adenoids
• Removal of wisdom teeth in hospital
• Eye surgery including cataract lens
• Rehabilitation and physiotherapy in hospital
• Joint replacement and joint reconstruction
• Pregnancy, assisted reproductive IVF, and childbirth (obstetrics) (waiting periods will apply)
• Hysterectomy
• Sterilisation
• Psychiatric treatment (waiting periods will apply)
• Renal dialysis (for kidney failure)
• Colonoscopy
• Gastric banding
• Intensive care
• Palliative care
• Plastic non-cosmetic surgery (where medically necessary)
• Prosthetics (surgically implanted)
• All other in-hospital services on the MBS

If you want to be covered for any out of hospital costs, you might want to consider Hospital, Medical, and Extras cover.

Medical cover may include:

• General Practitioners (GP)
• Specialists (e.g. optometry)
• Radiology (X-ray, MRI, CAT)
• Pathology (e.g. blood tests)
• Prescription pharmacy medicines (listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme)

Extras cover may include:

• Dental
• Optical (glasses or contact lenses)
• Physiotherapy
• Chiropractic
• Remedial massage
• Cancer screenings

Some insurers do not offer extras cover as an additional option with its working visa health cover, but you can separately take out extras-only health insurance with either the same insurer or a separate health insurance provider.

Any costs and charges above the benefit paid by your insurer will be part of your “gap”, which is your out-of-pocket expenses.

Who offers working visa health cover?

The insurance providers that offer working visa health cover according to Canstar’s database are the following:

• Allianz Care
• Australian Unity Health Limited
• Bupa HI Pty Ltd
• CBHS Corporate Health Pty Ltd
• GMHBA Limited trading as Frank Health Insurance
• HBF Health Limited
• The Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia Limited
• Health Insurance Fund of Australia Limited (HIF)
• Medibank Private Limited
• NIB Health Funds Ltd
• Westfund Limited

As part of Canstar’s Working Visa Health Cover Star Ratings and Awards, our expert Research Team uses our unique and sophisticated rating methodology to compare both cost and features across health insurance policies offered to people coming to Australia holding working visas. Canstar’s Star Ratings enable consumers to narrow their search to products that have been assessed and rated. Ratings range from one to five stars with five stars representing outstanding value to consumers.

How to buy working visa health cover

You can buy your working visa health cover through your employer, or online via an insurance company’s website. You can choose your insurance company, even if your employer has a “preferred provider” and recommends that you choose their provider. This was different in the past, when only your employer could arrange your health insurance.

You can use the myVEVO Visa Entitlement Verification Online app (available for Android and Apple devices) to check your Australian visa expiry date, work rights, study rights, and travel conditions. You can also email your visa details directly from myVEVO to your employer, school or other organisation. Alternatively, you can check for your visa conditions online through the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs website.

Can I transfer or switch working visa insurance companies?

Yes, you can transfer to a different working visa health insurance company at any time. If you paid in advance for your working visa health cover, you can get a refund, but you may have to pay a ‘refund administration or processing fee’.

You must buy a new working visa health insurance policy before you can get a refund from your previous insurance provider, because you must have insurance for the whole time you are in Australia or you would be in breach of Condition 8501. You will not have to wait the waiting periods again after you change working visa health cover providers, provided you are transferring to a policy with the same level of cover as your previous one. But waiting periods may apply for any new or additional medical services included in your new cover.