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Apart from Medicare which provides universal healthcare in Australia, there are a number of private health insurers in the country. Here we evaluate the major types of policies offered by these insurers.

There are two basic types of private health insurance policies available:

• Hospital, and
• General Treatment (sometimes known as ancillary or extras).

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You can take out either of these types of private health insurance on their own or most health insurers offer 'Combined' policies that provide cover for both hospital and general treatment services. Private health insurance does not cover visits to your local doctor, which are covered under Medicare.

Hospital policies fall into four general categories:

• Top Private Hospital Cover
• Medium Private Hospital Cover
• Budget Private Hospital Cover
• Public Hospital Cover

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General Treatment cover

General treatment policies (also known as ancillary or extras cover) provide benefits for ancillary services such as physiotherapy, dental and optical treatment. General treatment policies may be offered separately or combined with hospital cover. There are three general categories of policies:

• Comprehensive Cover
• Medium Cover
• Budget Cover

Combined cover

Many health insurers offer packaged policies that provide cover for both hospital and general treatment services. Some insurers have pre-packaged policies, while others allow you to mix and match a few different options, e.g. a budget hospital combined with a comprehensive general treatment policy.

The following are the links to some of the major private health insurers in Australia.
NIB Health Insurance - www.nib.com.au  
Medibank Private - www.medibank.com.au
MBF Health - www.mbf.com.au

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