Reviewed and updated 28 March 2025
About private health insurance
In Australia, private health insurance is health insurance offered by registered private insurers.
You can buy a private health insurance policy (Hospital Cover) to help cover the cost of being treated in hospital as a private patient rather than a public patient covered by Medicare.
You can also take out a private health insurance policy (Extras Cover) that helps pay for healthcare that Medicare does not cover, such as:
How does private health insurance interact with Medicare?
Australia’s healthcare system is complex.
It is a hybrid system – a mixture of a public and private system.
Medicare is Australia’s universal public health insurance scheme. Under Medicare, every Australian is entitled to:
However, if you take out private health insurance, it helps you:
- secure the doctor of your choice rather than one allocated by the hospital
- avoid lengthy waiting lists
- pay for treatment as a private patient in a hospital
- cover the cost of medical services that Medicare does not cover.
Private health insurance does not cover services covered by Medicare, including:
What are the different types of private health insurance?
In Australia, there are 3 types of private health insurance:
You can also buy Combined Hospital and Extras Cover.
Hospital Cover
Hospital Cover helps you pay for some or all of the cost of treatment as:
- a private patient in a private hospital
- a private patient in a public hospital
- a private patient in a day hospital.
Extras Cover helps you pay for medical and allied health services that Medicare does not cover and you receive outside a hospital setting, including:
Ambulance Only Cover
Medicare does not cover ambulance services.
Ambulance Only Cover helps you pay for the cost of an ambulance if you live in a state or territory that does not provide a free or subsidised ambulance service.
How do I get private health insurance?
To get private health insurance you must:
