Private health insurance funds will apply a 4.41% average increase on 1 April, but Medibank, Bupa, NIB and HCF have a higher than average increase
If you’re able to prepay for 12 months before your fund increases the price, you can make some good savings and delay the 2026 price increase
Keep in mind these are average figures across all policies of a fund; a range of different cost increases will apply to individual policies
As the cost of living continues to bite, Australians are facing another increase to the price of health insurance, with the largest average hike in premiums we’ve seen since 2017 due to come into effect on 1 April.
Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler announced the 4.41 per cent average premium increase saying it ‘reflects the rising costs of providing medical and hospital services, which rose 5 per cent last financial year.’
Previous research by CHOICE shows that many health insurance customers will find themselves facing increases much higher than 4.41%, particularly those with comprehensive Gold coverage.
Prepaying for 12 months before your fund increases the price means you can make some savings
“The average increase masks the reality of the escalating cost of comprehensive private health insurance which is increasingly unaffordable to the average consumer,” says CHOICE health insurance expert, Mark Blades.
“Check in with your fund to understand how much your premiums are due to increase by. Compare policies with other funds to see if you can get a better deal, or, if you want to stick with your current fund, prepaying for 12 months before your fund increases the price means you can make some savings.”
The average 2026 increase of 4.41% follows the 2025 increase of 3.73% and the 2024 increase of 3.03%, but CHOICE experts stress that some funds will have bigger price hikes than others.
“The average increase to premiums of 4.41% is just that – an average. It’s useful for understanding how much taxpayers increasingly spend to subsidise health insurance (now at $7.9 billion), but is of very little use to consumers,” says Mark.
“‘Our previous research has found that there is a big difference between the increases made to comprehensive Gold coverage and the junk-level Basic cover used to avoid the tax levy for high-income earners.
“When premiums increased in April 2025, CHOICE found that across the largest five funds, the average price of Gold policies increased 8–13% for existing policies while Basic and Bronze level cover increased 1–3% or less.”
2026 premium increases: Where does your health fund sit?
This bar chart shows the average premium increase for each health fund in 2026. The industry weighted average increase is 4.41%. The funds below are listed in order of their average increase.
GMHBA – 1.98% HBF Health Limited – 2.15% Police Health – 2.53% HIF – 2.6% Navy Health – 2.88% Phoenix Health – 2.95% Onemedifund – 2.96% Defence Health – 2.99% CBHS – 3.25% CBHS Corporate – 3.25% Westfund – 3.26% Doctors’ Health – 3.67% Hunter Health – 3.92% Teachers Health – 3.94% Health Partners – 3.94% Australian Unity – 3.98% Peoplecare Health – 4.01% Reserve Bank – 4.13% St Luke’s – 4.25% Mildura Health Fund – 4.25% Industry Average – 4.41% ACA – 4.48% Latrobe – 4.53% HCI – 4.53% BUPA – 4.8% HCF – 4.96% Medibank – 5.1% NIB – 5.47% AIA – 5.98%
How to avoid health insurance premium hikes
An excellent way to save money is to prepay your annual premium before 31 March to ‘lock in’ your current premium.
In addition to avoiding the price hike, some funds offer direct debit and pre-pay discounts. Of the big funds, HBF and NIB offer these discounts:
HBF – 4% for direct debit and 3.84% if you prepay your annual premium, which adds up to a total discount of 7.84% if you pay your annual payment by direct debit.
NIB – 4% for direct debit.
Some funds let you prepay for longer than 12 months. For example, NIB allows 13 months and HCF allows 18 months. But don’t leave it until the last minute to prepay as some funds require prepayment by a certain date. Check with your fund to find out.
CHOICE experts point out these average price increases don’t tell the full story of the rising costs of health insurance.
In the past, we’ve discovered many insurers introducing new, more expensive policies, while closing old cheaper policies in order to increase prices even more, without attracting attention.
In fact, last year we revealed that over the previous four years, insurers have used this tactic to jack up the average price of Gold hospital cover by 45%, while the “approved” average increase over the same period was 11.9%.
Now is a great time to review your cover, and if you’ve opted for top-level Gold hospital cover ‘just in case’, you should seriously think about dropping it or downgrading to cheaper cover.
If you’re thinking of upgrading your cover – for example, you want to have a baby in a private hospital, or think you may need surgery in the next year – don’t automatically upgrade with your current fund, but explore what deals are available with other funds.
If you’re thinking of upgrading your cover, don’t automatically upgrade with your current fund, but explore what deals are available with other funds
And remember, the headline figures released by the Department of Health are an average only; check with your fund to see how much your policy will be increasing by.
The same cover with a different insurer can be hundreds of dollars cheaper. The largest savings are available for Gold policyholders, but even if you have a Silver or Bronze policy, you’ll probably be able to find a cheaper deal that will give you at least the same cover. Our experts have found that in some cases you could save up to $1870 per year.
We recommend using our independent reviews of health insurance policies and providers to help guide your decision: we compare thousands of policies from 47 insurers. Our experts assess policies based on factors such as out-of-pocket costs, price, fund complaints and more to help you find the best-value policy.
Pru Engel is the Audience and Engagement editor at CHOICE. Her job is to ensure as many Australians as possible know about the great work we do at CHOICE.
She works closely with our testers and experts to find the gems of information in our data and research that will resonate with Australian consumers and help them make the best decisions, whether they're purchasing an air fryer, looking for a new mattress or trying to find the cheapest car insurance. She also helps to drive meaningful change for consumers by collaborating with our Campaigns team on content covering issues such as grocery pricing, product safety and scams.
Prior to CHOICE, Pru worked as an editor at many of Australia's leading food and lifestyle titles.
Pru has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism) from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Find Pru on LinkedIn.
Pru Engel is the Audience and Engagement editor at CHOICE. Her job is to ensure as many Australians as possible know about the great work we do at CHOICE.
She works closely with our testers and experts to find the gems of information in our data and research that will resonate with Australian consumers and help them make the best decisions, whether they're purchasing an air fryer, looking for a new mattress or trying to find the cheapest car insurance. She also helps to drive meaningful change for consumers by collaborating with our Campaigns team on content covering issues such as grocery pricing, product safety and scams.
Prior to CHOICE, Pru worked as an editor at many of Australia's leading food and lifestyle titles.
Pru has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism) from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Find Pru on LinkedIn.
Daniel Graham is a Senior data analyst in the Insurance and utilities team. He maintains the CHOICE database of general insurance products and is the resident expert in insurance pricing. He covers home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously, Daniel has worked as a finance journalist and data journalist in the investigations team, focusing on insurance stories and comparisons.
Daniel has a Graduate Diploma of Journalism from UTS and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. He is RG146 compliance certified to provide general advice in Tier 2 General Insurance and is a member of the Media, Arts and Entertainment Alliance. LinkedIn
Daniel Graham is a Senior data analyst in the Insurance and utilities team. He maintains the CHOICE database of general insurance products and is the resident expert in insurance pricing. He covers home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously, Daniel has worked as a finance journalist and data journalist in the investigations team, focusing on insurance stories and comparisons.
Daniel has a Graduate Diploma of Journalism from UTS and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. He is RG146 compliance certified to provide general advice in Tier 2 General Insurance and is a member of the Media, Arts and Entertainment Alliance. LinkedIn
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family. And our recent sunscreens test showed just how important it is to keep business claims in check.
So you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
