Changes to Hospital Cover
Hospital cover will be categorised as Gold, Silver, Bronze or Basic
Compulsory change from 1 April 2019
From April 1, Health funds will be required to categorise their hospital policies as Gold, Silver, Bronze or Basic, according to the level of cover they provide. The Government has also set minimum policy inclusions for each category level.
Because Health Partners has always classified Hospital cover as Gold, Silver or Bronze, this requires a name change to most of our existing and historical products.
In most cases our cover exceeded the minimum requirements for a category and means the classification has increased from what it was classed as previously or will include the word Plus, indicating the inclusions are above the minimum requirements.
By mid-March members should have received direct communication from us outlining the change to their product name, if you haven’t please contact us to let us know.
To see how each product name has changed, see our table below.
| Old Product Name | New Product Name | Open or Closed Product to people joining after 1 April 2019 |
|---|
| Gold Value Hospital with Maternity | Gold Hospital | Open |
| Gold Value Hospital excluding Maternity | Silver Hospital Plus | Open |
| Gold Hospital | Classic Hospital Gold | Closed to new members |
| Gold Hospital 25 | Classic Hospital Gold 25 | Closed to new members |
| Gold Hospital 50 | Classic Hospital Gold 50 | Closed to new members |
| Silver Hospital 500 | Classic Hospital Gold 500 | Closed to new members |
| Silver Hospital 250 | Classic Hospital Gold 250 | Closed to new members |
| Silver Hospital | Heritage Hospital Silver Plus | Closed to new members |
| Bronze Hospital 500 | Classic Hospital Silver Plus | Closed to new members |
| Bronze Hospital | Classic Hospital Bronze Plus | Closed to new members |
Additional Excess options available
Voluntary change from 1 April 2019
Health Partners will have the option to offer hospital policies with higher excess levels. Until now, we’ve been restricted to offering a maximum excess of $500 for singles and $1000 for families.
From April 1 we will have a new product suite offering a range of excess options to help you manage costs, from zero to $750.
The new products below are available form 1 April 2019 and will have additional excess options available.
| Product name | | | | |
|---|
| Gold Hospital | 0 | 250 | 500 | 750 |
| Silver Hospital Plus | 0 | 250 | 500 | 750 |
| Silver Hospital | | | 500 | 750 |
| Bronze Hospital | | | 500 | 750 |
Please note additional excess options will not be available on any closed products.
Standardised clinical definitions
Compulsory from 1 April 2019
All private health funds will have to use standardised definitions when listing what’s covered by their hospital policies.
For example, ‘Dental Surgery’ will be the only acceptable term to describe services which may otherwise have been listed as ‘wisdom teeth’ or ‘surgical removal of wisdom teeth’.
Full list of clinical definitions
| Hospital treatments by clinical category |
|---|
| Rehabilitation |
| Hospital psychiatric services |
| Palliative care |
| Brain and nervous system |
| Eye (not cataracts) |
| Ear, nose and throat |
| Tonsils, adenoids and grommets |
| Bone, joint and muscle |
| Joint reconstruction |
| Kidney and bladder |
| Male reproductive system |
| Digestive system |
| Hernia and appendix |
| Gastrointestinal endoscopy |
| Gynaecology |
| Miscarriage and termination of pregnancy |
| Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy for cancer |
| Pain Management |
| Skin |
| Breast surgery (medically necessary) |
| Diabetes management (excluding insulin pumps) |
| Heart and vascular system |
| Lung and chest |
| Blood |
| Back, neck and spine |
| Plastic and reconstruction surgery (medically necessary) |
| Dental surgery |
| Podiatric surgery (provided by a registered podiatric surgeon) |
| Implantation of hearing devices |
| Cataracts |
| Joint replacements |
| Dialysis for chronic kidney failure |
| Weight loss surgery |
| Insulin pumps |
| Pain management with device |
| Sleep studies |
| Pregnancy and birth |
| Assisted reproductive services |
Youth Discount
Voluntary change from 1 April 2019
Due to legislative changes as part of the reforms, from April 1st 2019 Health Partners can introduce a Youth Discount to help make Private Health Insurance even more affordable for young Australians.
If you’re under 30 years old, you could save up to 10% on your premiums and be able to keep your discount until you’re 41.
If you’re already a member you’re still eligible for the discount, we’ll automatically apply it to your policy.
Find out more about the Youth Discount
Changes to Extras Cover
Extras products can no longer have names that contain Gold, Silver, or Bronze.
Compulsory change from 1 April 2019
Because of changes to Hospital cover categories, Extras cover will no longer be able to have names that contain Gold Silver or Bronze. As a result Health Partners are required to change the names of all of Extras products.
By mid-March members should have received direct communication from us outlining the change to their product name, if you haven’t please contact us to let us know.
To see how each product name has changed, see our table below.
| Current Product Name | New Product Name |
|---|
| National Extras | National Extras |
| Gold Extras | Top Extras |
| Silver Extras | Standard Extras |
| Bronze Extras | Starter Extras |
| Natural Plus | Natural Therapies |
Removal of coverage for naturopathy, Pilates and some other natural therapies
Compulsory from 1 April 2019
The Australian Government has imposed that cover for the following natural therapies will be removed from all private health insurance products:
- Alexander technique
- Aromatherapy
- Bowen therapy
- Buteyko
- Feldenkrais,
- Western herbalism
- Homeopathy
- Iridology
- Kinesiology
- Naturopathy
- Pilates
- Reflexology
- Rolfing
- Shiatsu
- Tai chi
- Yoga
