Several Australian visa types require visitors to take out overseas visitor health cover (OVHC). Bupa offers several OVHC types and all options are 100% compliant with Australian 485 and 482 visas.
Pros
It's well-known and trusted. Bupa is the second-largest health insurer by market share in Australia, just behind Medibank, and has a global presence.
It comes with lots of options to suit various budgets – unlike many other brands.
Con
It can't cover everything – you'll still incur out of pocket expenses if you need medical care.
Bupa Care Australia OVHC: Our verdict
Bupa is good if:
You need to meet condition 8501 of your visa.
You want to avoid ambulance fees.
You aren't covered by a RHCA.
Bupa is not great if:
You're overwhelmed by lots of choices.
You're coming to Australia as a student – you'll need OSHC.
Unlike many other insurers, Bupa offers several extras insurance options, including:
Freedom 50 Extras. This pays 50% towards benefits including General Dental, Physio, Chiro and Osteo.
Freedom 60 Extras. This pays 60% towards benefits including General Dental, Physio, Chiro, Osteo and Remedial Massage.
Top Extras 75. This pays 75% towards benefits including General Dental, Major Dental & Endodontic, Optical, Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Remedial Massage and more.
Top Extras 90. This pays 90% towards benefits including General Dental, Major Dental & Endodontic, Optical, Physiotherapy, Acupuncture, Remedial Massage and more.
Ambulance coverage
Bupa will pay 100% of the cost of emergency ambulance transport across Australia. Ambulance services aren't generally free in Australia.
Bupa health insurance complaints
We looked at the 2023 Ombudsman health insurance complaints. Here's how Bupa stacked up:
It's good if you want a reliable customer service provider – it had a better complaint ratio than most of Australia's other large funds including HCF and nib.*
While it didn't receive many complaints compared to market share, it's not quite the best. HBF and Westfund did slightly better.
Bupa OVHC frequently asked questions
The costs covered are different depending on which option you choose. When you pick Essential Lite, Essential or Essential 50, you might need to pay more out of pocket for hospital procedures than if you pick Mid 60, Premium or Premium 90.
Not all procedures will be fully covered either. Certain treatments like heart surgery, hip replacements and renal dialysis may result in more out-of-pocket expenses.
Waiting periods also apply to certain treatments. For most hospital services and extras services, you will have to wait for two months after taking out cover before you can claim them. For most pre-existing conditions, it is 12 months for hospital cover.
When you sign up, Bupa will give you a membership card. This can be used at participating extras service providers to claim reimbursement for services, as covered under your plan.
For hospital treatments, the hospital can bill Bupa for services directly, and you will often only need to pay the difference, as well as any applicable excess, directly to the hospital or service provider.
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 648 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
