Defence Health Insurance

Defence Health is a provider of health and travel insurance. Defence Health offers insurance to those in the Australian Defence Force, their families and the broader defence community.

What’s on offer from Defence Health?

Defence Health offers hospital cover, extras cover and combined hospital and extras cover. Defence Health says its policies can be tailored to singles, couples, families and children.

At the time of writing, Defence Health offers the following hospital policies:

Ultimate Hospital Gold – Defence Health’s most comprehensive hospital cover. Includes coverage for a wide range of clinical categories including heart and vascular, joint reconstructions, chemotherapy, and pregnancy and birth.

Value Hospital Silver Plus – provides cover for a broad range of services, excluding some services such as cataracts and joint replacements.

Everyday Hospital Bronze Plus – provides cover for a limited range of hospital services such as dental surgery and joint reconstructions.

Essentials Hospital Basic Plus – Defence Health’s lowest hospital cover with coverage for basic hospital services such as dental surgery and joint reconstructions.

Find out more about the tiered Gold, Silver, Bronze and Basic hospital cover categories and the different clinical categories.

Defence Health also offers the following extras policies:

Premier Extras – covers a range of extras with Defence Health’s highest annual benefit limits. Includes unlimited general dental as well as laser eye surgery.

Value Extras – covers a variety of extras including unlimited general dental as well as services such as optical, physiotherapy and chiropractic.

Essentials Extras – covers the most popular extras such as general dental, optical, alternative therapies, physiotherapy and chiropractic.

Defence Health says you can combine these extras policies with its hospital covers. Defence Health also offers the following packages for ADF members and their families:

ADF Total Package Gold – designed for ADF families and includes gold hospital and top extras cover.

ADF Essentials Package Basic Plus – limited cover includes basic hospital and basic extras.

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Defence Health says you are eligible to join if:

You are the partner, child or an extended family member of a current or previous ADF member
You have previously served in the ADF
You or your extended family works or has worked in the Department of Defence or other defence related departments or a defence supplier

Before taking out a health insurance policy, you may first want to compare your options with Canstar. Please note that Canstar does not currently compare Defence Health Insurance.

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If you decide to take out a health insurance policy with Defence Health, you can get a quote on its website or over the phone.

To join online, Defence Health says you’ll need your:

Medicare card
Credit card or bank details
DVA card (if you have one)
Information about how you are connected to the ADF

Additionally if you are or were an ADF member you’ll also need your PMKeyS and Enlistment and discharge dates.

Defence Health says you can use its Online Member Services portal to do a range of things. For example, you can:

Claim online
Change your contact details
View your claims history, limit availability and cover details
Change your cover
Add a new person to your cover

All of Defence Health’s extras policies include cover for general dental. Defence Health’s Premier Extras and Value Extras also cover major dental. The level of dental cover you need will depend on the complexity and cost of the dental procedures you would like to have covered. Additionally, all of Defence Health’s hospital policies include cover for dental surgery.

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Once you’ve received medical treatment or made a purchase covered by your policy, the next step is to make a claim.

There are several ways you can lodge a claim with Defence Health. If you are claiming for Extras you can do so:

On-the-spot: Defence Health says you can use your Defence Health member card to claim on the spot at most extras providers.

Mobile app: You can make a claim using Defence Health’s Mobile Claiming App. This can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play Store.

Online: You can claim on the Defence Health website. Defence Health says there is no need to scan and send your account or receipt.

Manual claim: Defence Health says you can complete a claim form and submit it and your account or receipt to Defence Health via email, fax, post or at a Defence Health branch.

If you are claiming for hospital services, Defence Health says in most cases it will settle your accommodation account directly with the hospital when you are discharged. For more information on hospital claims visit Defence Health’s website.

At the time of writing, Defence Health does not offer Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). If you are an international student coming to Australia on a study visa, you can compare OSHC policies available in Australia with Canstar:

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At the time of writing, Defence Health does not offer Working Visa Health Cover (OVHC). However, if you’re on an overseas visa and are from a country with a reciprocal healthcare agreement, you could be eligible for one of Defence Health’s policies.

Compare OVHC policies on Canstar’s website:

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Defence Health was established in 1953 with the core purpose of helping members of the ADF and wider defence community to manage their personal and family health. Defence Health is not-for-profit and currently says it has over 260,000 members.

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