These products offer a balance between low pricing and more features.
7+
Great
Competitive products within their group.
5+
Standard
Usually these products would either have fewer treatments covered or higher pricing.
0+
Basic
Offering basic cover with limited features or higher pricing.
Pros
Basic Plus Starter is the cheapest plan on Finder to cover joint reconstruction, lung and chest; and miscarriage and termination of pregnancy.
It's popular. Bupa is the second-largest health insurer by market share, just behind Medibank.
Flexibility – with Bupa FLEXtras, you can pick the extras you'll actually use.
Bupa had proportionally fewer complaints than other funds including HCF and nib*.
Cons
Bupa is for-profit, which might matter to some people who want to look for a not-for-profit health fund.
Gold Comprehensive may not be the best value option for top tier cover. While it's very comprehensive and costs around $256.18 a month, Bupa's Silver Plus Advanced covers most Gold tier treatments from around $171.44 a month.
Congratulations, Bupa!
Bupa received the following highly commended awards in the 2024 Product Awards:
Finalist for Best Health Insurance - Basic Hospital 2023
Finalist for Best Health Insurance - Basic Extras 2023
Finalist for Best Health Insurance - Medium Extras 2023
Bupa health insurance: Our verdict
Bupa health insurance is Australia's second-biggest health fund, has over 4 million members and provides good value Basic, Bronze and Silver policies.
Bupa is good if:
You want good value for your money, particularly its Basic, Bronze and Silver Plus policies.
You want an insurer with good customer service – Bupa receives a lower percentage of complaints than its overall market share. This is not the case for many other funds.
You appreciate some flexibility with your insurance. Bupa FLEXtras lets you choose either 4 or 6 extras that will suit your needs, and you can opt for a standard or higher annual claims limit.
Each month we analyse over 10,000 hospital and extras insurance products and rate each one on price and features. What we end up with is a nice round number out of 10 that helps you compare products a bit faster.
Before we start scoring, we need to make sure we're comparing like-for-like. Just as it doesn't make sense to compare a toy car with a Porche, it doesn't make sense to compare basic policies to top-tier gold policies. Each policy is given a price score and feature score. These are then combined to determine each policies's Finder Score. Read our full methodologies of how we calculated Finder Score for hospital cover and extras cover.
What do Australians think of Bupa health insurance?
4.14/5 overall for Customer Satisfaction — higher than the average of 4.13
4.56/5 for Trust — higher than the average of 4.46
4.19/5 for Customer Service — higher than the average of 4.17
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
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You'll pay the same price as going direct - we don't
charge fees
We don't ask for your phone number to see prices
Hang tight - we're fetching policies just for you!
Comparing quotes from 40+ funds...
Bupa health insurance complaints
We looked at the 2023 Ombudsman health insurance complaints. Here's how Bupa stacked up:
Its customer service is among the best compared to other large funds. With a market share of 24.9%, only 23.7% of total complaints were about Bupa. This is a better complaint ratio than most of Australia's other large funds including HCF and nib.
While it has few complaints compared to market share, it's not number 1. HBF and GMHBA scored better.
Bupa frequently asked questions
Most Bupa policies have government mandated waiting periods before you can claim a particular benefit. Here are some of the waiting periods on Bupa hospital cover:
12 months. Pre-existing conditions, pregnancy and birth (obstetrics).
2 months. All other treatments as well as psychiatric treatments for pre-existing conditions, palliative care and rehabilitation.
Waiting periods also apply for Bupa extras coverage.
12 months. Purchase of Health aids and appliances, orthodontics and major dental.
2 months. Most other extras services.
No waiting period. Emergency ambulance service.
There are several ways you can claim on your Bupa health insurance policy:
On the spot. Simply swipe your membership card and pay any difference. Around 20,000 service providers around Australia accept Bupa membership cards.
By post. Fill out a claim form, attach your receipt and invoice and then post it to Bupa Reply Paid 990, Adelaide SA 5001. Payments will then be made to you by EFT if you've provided your details on the form or by cheque if you haven't.
Online. To make a claim for services that you've already paid for, sign into your myBupa account and enter the details on your receipt. Your reimbursement will be automatically paid to your nominated account.
With the myBupa app. The myBupa app allows you to claim for some treatments quickly, available for both Android and Apple devices.
Fund
Android
iOS
Bupa
The policy can be suspended for a given period of time if a member is travelling overseas for a longer period or facing financial hardships or imprisonment. The benefits will not be provided during this time. The maximum period for suspension varies from 12 months in financial hardship to 2 years for overseas travel.
If the premiums are not paid by the due date, the policy is considered to be in arrears. If the arrears are more than two months Bupa may cancel the policy.
The premiums can change if the level of cover is changed. Also, if you move to a different state, there might be a different premium. The premiums are changed to reflect the changes in the circumstance. Additionally, there's a national increase in premiums for all providers on the 1st of April each year.
Yes, Bupa offers a range of visitors health cover designed to suit those on working, non-working, student and holiday visas.
Online tools and calculators, such as an online health assessment and Parent and Baby Wellbeing Program.
Self-management programs for conditions like Osteoarthritis Healthy Weight For Life Program and asthma.
Member Support programs like the phone-based Bupa Health Coaching Program.
Health management extras services. Health Management is a feature on some extras cover policies. It provides you with benefits towards the costs of certain approved health-related programs, including the Chemotherapy Choices Program and the Dietitian Health Coaching Service.
Gary Ross Hunter was an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). See full bio
Gary Ross's expertise
Gary Ross has written 659 Finder guides across topics including:
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