Australian Health Management, known as ahm, was founded in the 1970s and is now owned by Medibank. If you’re a student, read on to find out how ahm can meet your health cover visa requirements.
What visas does it cover?
If you’re an overseas student studying in Australia, you’re likely to be here on a Student Visa (Subclass 500). If so, you’re required by the Australian Government to have adequate hospital and medical cover during your stay in Australia.
This applies to all overseas students, whether you’re applying for a student visa, have one already, or are on a bridging visa while you wait for your student visa to be extended. Your spouse and any children under 18 who are staying with you in Australia must also have health cover while they are here.
Before you arrive and once you have arrived
You can either buy your ahm OSHC health cover online before you arrive in Australia or buy it once you’re here. If you purchase your cover overseas, it will take effect from the date you arrive in Australia.
If you buy your ahm OSHC health cover after you arrive in Australia, your cover starts once your premium has been paid, unless you’ve nominated a later commencement date because you’re transferring from another health fund.
Why would you get OSHC?
The reason the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) requires you to have health cover is because you won’t be covered by Medicare, Australia’s national health care program. So if you became ill or injured while in Australia, you’d have to pay your own hospital and medical bills. This might be very expensive, as treatment in a public hospital can cost as much as $2,500 a day.
What are the cover options?
ahm OSHC provides health insurance for singles, couples, families and single parents and covers the following:
Medical cover: 100% of the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) fee on GP consultations, 85% of the MBS fees for medical services provided outside of hospital (eg, specialists, pathology and x-rays) and 100% of the MBS fee for medical services provided when admitted to hospital (e.g. surgeon, anaesthetist etc).
Hospital cover: Benefits towards hospital accommodation including overnight admissions, same-day admissions, intensive care and theatre fees in a partner private hospital, a non-partner private hospital (lower benefits paid) and a public hospital (shared room only). Also covers emergency ambulance and surgically implanted prostheses.
Prescription medicines: Pays the difference between the PBS amount and the cost of the item up to $50 per item (limit of $300 per year).
Treatments
If you choose to take out hospital cover with ahm, you’ll be covered for treatments including:
Surgical removal of wisdom teeth (hospital charges only).
Some things you need to know
When considering if ahm could be the right choice for your OSHC, it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons. Here are some of the key features:
Pros
Access to ahm's 24/7 Student Health and Support Line (includes a registered nurse, counselling services, legal advice, help with travel documents, interpreter and family and friends message service).
Your choice of doctor or specialist for medical treatment in hospital.
An easy online claims process.
The option to include extras cover to access a range of ancillary services such as dental, optical and physiotherapy.
Cons
No cover for accident and emergency facility fees raised by private hospitals (only public hospitals).
Waiting periods for most services (2 months for pre-existing psychiatric conditions and 12 months for pre-existing medical conditions and pregnancy-related services including childbirth).
No cover for treatment of a child over 18 years of age (standard with most OSHC products).
How to make a claim
Claiming on your ahm OSHC is easy. ahm OSHC members can claim in the following ways:
Online. ahm Online Member Services
App. ahm OSHC App
Phone. 134 148
Direct Billing. Members choice network
How to get a refund or cancel your policy
If you have to cancel your OSHC policy, ahm will refund all of your premium if you don’t come to Australia to study or if you pay for an extended stay and your visa is not extended.
ahm will also refund the unused portion of your premium if:
you have to cancel your studies and return home
your visa is cancelled or your status changes
you’ve been granted permanent residency or another type of Australian visa
you didn’t remain in Australia for at least 3 months while holding a student visa or
you decide to leave Australia after completing your studies before your student visa expires.
Tim Bennett is a Finder insurance & utilities expert. For over 10 years he's reported on news, politics, finance and other topics as a journalist and radio presenter. Tim's roles have included radio news reader and breakfast at the ABC, news producer for SBS and producer for Fairfax Media. Tim regularly appears as a health insurance expert on programs like Sunrise and SBS news, as well as in the Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and more. See full bio
Tim's expertise
Tim has written 122 Finder guides across topics including:
The 190 Visa gives you permanent residency and can lead to citizenship. Read our easy, step-by-step guide on how to apply and what health cover you will need to have in place.
If your parents are planning to visit you in Australia from another country, they will first need an appropriate visa, and secondly need health insurance while they are here. This guide explains how to do both.
If you’re an international student travelling to Australia on a student visa, you’ll need to take out Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC).
How likely would you be to recommend Finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Important information about this website
Finder makes money from featured partners, but editorial opinions are our own.
Finder is one of Australia's leading comparison websites. We are committed to our readers and stand by our editorial principles
We try to take an open and transparent approach and provide a broad-based comparison service. However, you should be aware that while we are an independently owned service, our comparison service does not include all providers or all products available in the market.
Some product issuers may provide products or offer services through multiple brands, associated companies or different labeling arrangements. This can make it difficult for consumers to compare alternatives or identify the companies behind the products. However, we aim to provide information to enable consumers to understand these issues.
We make money by featuring products on our site. Compensation received from the providers featured on our site can influence which products we write about as well as where and how products appear on our page, but the order or placement of these products does not influence our assessment or opinions of them, nor is it an endorsement or recommendation for them.
Products marked as 'Top Pick', 'Promoted' or 'Advertisement' are prominently displayed either as a result of a commercial advertising arrangement or to highlight a particular product, provider or feature. Finder may receive remuneration from the Provider if you click on the related link, purchase or enquire about the product. Finder's decision to show a 'promoted' product is neither a recommendation that the product is appropriate for you nor an indication that the product is the best in its category. We encourage you to use the tools and information we provide to compare your options.
Where our site links to particular products or displays 'Go to site' buttons, we may receive a commission, referral fee or payment when you click on those buttons or apply for a product.
When products are grouped in a table or list, the order in which they are initially sorted may be influenced by a range of factors including price, fees and discounts; commercial partnerships; product features; and brand popularity. We provide tools so you can sort and filter these lists to highlight features that matter to you.
Please read our website terms of use and privacy policy for more information about our services and our approach to privacy.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
Depending on your age, you may be eligible for an
aged-based discount. This is used to estimate your
rebate.
Under 65
65 - 69
70 or older
What's your household's taxable income?
This is the combined income you and your spouse earn before tax. It's needed to calculate the correct Australian government rebate.
$93,000 and under
$93,001 to $108,000
$108,001 to $144,000
$144,001 and over
What kind of health insurance do you need?
Combined (Extras + Hospitals)
Extras
Hospital
What level of hospital coverage would you like?
You can change this at any time later.
Legend
Covered
Restricted cover, You may be partially covered for
this category.
Not covered. Optional for insurer to include.
*Prices updated March 2024, in line with Finder's
database of health insurance policies. Prices are based
on a single individual with less than $93,000 income and
living in Sydney with a $750 excess.
What extras cover do you need? (Optional)
Select as many as you want or move to the next step
Preventative & general dental
Major dental & implants
Optical
Physiotherapy
Podiatry
Non-PBS pharmaceuticals
Chiropractic
Emergency ambulance
Remedial massage
Email me my results (optional)
To get a copy of your results for later, add your email below
