Two-parent families can often add their kids to their health insurance policy for free, but single parents may pay as much as double to add a child
Some insurers offer perks for children, like no excess for hospital visits or gap-free dental check-ups
Review your health insurance at least once a year to make sure you’re getting the best deal for you and your family
Single-parent families are treated unfairly by health insurance providers in ways that don’t make a lot of sense.
While two-parent families usually pay the same premiums as couples (meaning their kids are insured for free), single parents are charged extra for their children’s health cover.
Single parent policies cost 60–70% more than single policies on average, and some funds even charge single parents the same premium as two-parent families.
In Australia health insurance policies are categorised into four tiers:
Basic – very little if any cover in a private hospital
Bronze – low cover
Silver – medium cover
Gold – full or top cover.
In between these main tiers there are also Silver Plus, Bronze Plus and Basic Plus policies that cover at least one service more than the normal Silver, Bronze or Basic policies. For example, a Silver Plus policy could include cover for pregnancy or cataract surgery (services usually only covered under Gold policies).
Since April 2007, private health funds have been able to give single parents a reduced premium compared to the family rate. Before that time, health insurance regulation meant that single parents always paid the same premium as two-parent families.
So single parents generally don’t pay as much as they used to, but they still pay more than singles without kids. And not all health funds charge single parents lower premiums than two-parent families.
CHOICE tip: If you’ve been a loyal customer and stayed with the same fund and policy for the past 10 years or more, you may be stuck in the old system. Check with your insurer.
For the funds that do offer lower premiums to single-parent families, the amount can vary. Most of them charge single parents 10–40% less than two-parent families. On average, funds charge single-parent families 20% less than two-parent families for extras policies and 40% less than two-parent families for extras policies.
Policies offering single parents a better deal
The policies we found that penalise single parents the least are:
HCI Bronze Plus and Silver Plus policies, which cost 40% more for single-parent families compared to singles.
Medibank Bronze Plus, which costs single parents 43% more than a single person without a child.
Navy Health Gold, Silver Plus and Bronze Plus, which cost 45% extra on top of standard single cover.
AHM Advanced Gold ($500 excess), which costs single parents 46% extra.
When looking at trends across all their policies, HCi, Navy Health, Latrobe and TUH are giving single parents the best deals, but they’re still charging an average of 40–50% more for single parents than single people without kids, when two-parent families pay the same as couples without children.
Worst policies for single parents
The below hospital policies charge single-parent families about the same as two-parent families.
Reserve Bank (Bronze Plus and Gold policies)
Hunter Health (there are no policies specifically available for single parents, which means you have to pay for a family policy)
NIB brands (AAMI, ING, NIB, Real, Suncorp and Seniors) Gold.
Check what’s included
Discounts aren’t everything. Some funds that charge single parents the same as two-parent families may offer cheaper policies with better value for money than other funds that do offer a single-parent discount. Use our comparison tool to review health insurance policies and see which ones are best for your situation and needs.
Special perks for kids
Some insurers give special treatment to kids, whether you’re a single or a two-parent family, including:
no excess or co-payments for children if they need to go to hospital
free extras services for children (if they go to the dentist, for example)
extended coverage for full-time students on your family policy up to age 31 (an extra cost may apply for other young adults).
On average, two-parent families are charged the same as couples without children for hospital and extras insurance, but single parents are always charged more than single people without children. The price difference for single people to add children to an extras policy tends to be greater than the price difference for doing the same thing on a hospital insurance policy. The big 5 are no exception.
So, how much more do the biggest five health funds charge to add children to single health insurance policies?
Insurer
Hospital insurance*
Extras insurance*
BUPA
65%
70%
HBF
60–62%
70–88%
HCF
60–100%
60–100%
Medibank
43–82%
89–100%
NIB
65–90%
60–100%
*We compared the cost of the same policy for singles vs single parents. How much more single parents were charged often varied from policy to policy. This is the range by which single parent prices exceeded those of standard single prices, broken down by insurer and policy type.
Should you downgrade your policy if you’re done having kids?
If you’ve finished having children, you may be considering downgrading to a policy without pregnancy and fertility cover – but this isn’t as simple as it might seem.
In principle it makes sense not to pay for cover you won’t be using, but very few policies exclude pregnancy and fertility services without also excluding things you may still need, and those that do are often only a few dollars cheaper than full cover Gold policies. Some are even more expensive than policies that cover everything.
You might find yourself without cover for something you’ll actually need
There’s another pitfall, too: policies that restrict or exclude some procedures can be changed to exclude more procedures. So unless you keep track of all the material the fund sends you and regularly check your policy, you might find yourself without cover for something you’ll actually need.
In general, you tend to be better off with a policy that covers everything, as funds are much less likely to add restrictions to those.
We know getting a handle on this stuff can seem like a chore. It’s why our health insurance experts have put together a handy comparison tool to help you through the process of reviewing, comparing and switching your health insurance policy.
Health insurance terms explained
Excess
An extra amount, such as $500, charged once per hospital stay. It usually applies once (singles) or twice (couples and families) per year.
Co-payments
An extra amount, such as $70, that you pay per day while in hospital. It’s usually capped per hospital stay or per year.
Preferred providers
Health funds sign up dental practices or optical stores as part of their preferred provider network. Some clinics are even owned by the fund.
Preferred providers may offer a discount to a health fund’s members, or the health insurer may pay members higher benefits if they go to preferred providers. For example, instead of a set dollar benefit, the fund may pay a percentage benefit, such as 75% of the bill, which can result in lower out-of-pocket costs for you.
Jane Bardell is a Content producer in the Insurance and utilities team. She writes about home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously at CHOICE, she checked facts, figures and statistics as a Verifier with the Editorial and investigations team.
Jane has a Bachelor of Science from the University of New South Wales. LinkedIn
Jane Bardell is a Content producer in the Insurance and utilities team. She writes about home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously at CHOICE, she checked facts, figures and statistics as a Verifier with the Editorial and investigations team.
Jane has a Bachelor of Science from the University of New South Wales. LinkedIn
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