Why you should consider health insurance when you turn 30
Prices will rise after you turn 31
A 2% lifetime Health Cover loading (LHC) is added to your health insurance premium for every year you don't have hospital cover over the age of 30. That fee accumulates, so if you go without hospital insurance until you're 40, you'll be hit with a 20% fee. It also stays in place until you've held hospital insurance for 10 years.
There's a tax surcharge if you earn over $97k
The Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) is an additional tax that you have to pay if you earn over $97,000 as a single or $194,000 as a family. Depending on how much you make, you'll pay a levy of between 1% and 1.5% of your annual income — that's between $75 and $181 more tax a month.
Finder survey: How many Australians of different ages understand how health insurance works?
Response
75+ yrs
65-74 yrs
55-64 yrs
45-54 yrs
35-44 yrs
25-34 yrs
18-24 yrs
Yes
65.91%
62.21%
56.52%
54.44%
59.46%
60%
47.06%
Somewhat
34.09%
35.47%
39.13%
41.42%
37.84%
36.32%
44.71%
No
2.33%
4.35%
4.14%
2.7%
3.68%
8.24%
Source: Finder survey by Pure Profile of 1006 Australians, December 2023
Compare cheap policies to avoid the LHC and MLS
You only need a basic or bronze health insurance policy to avoid both of these surcharges. That's great news, because these policies tend to be very affordable. Here are a few basic and bronze policies available from Finder partners. All prices are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income and living in Sydney.
How much you can save by getting hospital cover before 31
You can avoid the lifetime health cover loading penalty by taking out basic hospital insurance with an excess of $750 or less for singles before 1 July following your 31st birthday.
Let's put that in real terms. Say a health insurance policy is available for $600 per year. If you wait to take out your first policy at 40 it's going to cost you 20% more than that – $720 per year.
Here are a few more examples:
Age
Loading
Cost of cover
You've had cover since 31
If this is your first hospital cover
35
10%
$600
$600
$660
40
20%
$650
$650
$780
50
40%
$700
$700
$980
60
60%
$800
$800
$1280
"I ignored health insurance when I turned 31, believing it was unnecessary. My perspective changed when I realised how much I was being charged on my tax returns due to the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) for not having health insurance. I decided to get hospital cover with extras. By getting insurance, I am now saving $230 per year and also gaining the benefits of private health coverage. However, because I delayed getting my first policy by three years, I'm now stuck with a 6% Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading penalty for the next 10 years. My advice: Make sure you're informed about the true cost of not having private health insurance in your 30s."
Zoe Sharry
Finder crew member
Other benefits for health insurance in your 30s
Health insurance offers a lot more than just the ability to avoid additional taxes and surcharges. For people in their 30s, there arelots of ways you can benefit from the right health insurance policy. You can roughly divide those benefits into extras and hospital cover.
Extras cover
Dental Coverage: Dental services aren't covered under Medicare for most people, but are super important for 30-somethings. An extras policy with general dental coverage will cover post preventative treatments, while major dental is what you'll need for coverage for things like major surgery and braces.
Optical: Have glasses? If so, optical coverage is going to be super useful for you, and can cover the cost of prescription and contact lenses.
Physiotherapy: As we get older, things start to go wrong with our bodies, especially if we exercise regularly! Extras coverage can chip in on the cost of regular physio sessions.
Healthy lifestyle: Lots of extras policies are increasingly offering benefits for the costs involved in staying healthy through your life, which can prevent health problems down the line. This can include benefits for gym memberships, pilates, quit smoking aids and more.
Hosptial cover
Bone, joint and muscle treatment: In your 30's you're probably still staying active, and issues with your bones, joints and muscles are likely to start cropping up. All bronze policies include cover for private bone, joint and muscle treatments, including joint reconstructions.
Gynaecology, miscarriage and pregnancy termination: If they are relevant to you, these services are covered under all bronze hospital policies. These can be more and more important for people in their 30s, so may be worth considering cover for.
Pregnancy: If you're thinking of having a baby and you'd like to access the benefits of the private system, you'it's worth considering a silver or gold hospital policy that covers pregnancy and childbirth.
Ambulance: Most hosptial, extras and combined policies include cover for emergency Ambulance transport, which is not covered under Medicare in most states.
Grab a great sign-up deal this April 2025
If you're ready to jump into a new health insurance policy, one of the best ways to start is with a sign-up deal. Here are a few of the best sign-up deals that are currently live from Finder partners.
The main reason people buy health insurance in their 30s is to avoid the Lifetime Health Cover loading, or to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge. Most hospital policies will let you avoid these. After that, the best health insurance for you is a policy that covers the treatments that are important to you.
Even if you've missed dodging the fee, but plan to take out private health insurance at some point in your life, it's still worth getting a policy. That way you'll avoid the increasingly expensive loading fees.
A lot of common health conditions are covered under Medicare in Australia, so you don't technically need private health insurance. However, there are a lot of benefits to private health insurance. These include the ability to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Health Cover loading, as well as getting coverage for a range of additional health treatments.
As Finder's insurance group publisher, Alex Holderness aims to make confusing topics easy to understand. She's been published in Money Mag, Yahoo Finance, Hospital Health, and is a contributing author for Google's Startup Grind. She has a keen passion for running and is currently studying for her General Insurance certification. See full bio
A seasoned journalist with over 10 years of experience in news, politics and finance reporting, Tim has previously held roles at the ABC, SBS and Fairfax Media. Tim’s expert insights have been quoted in The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and more. He regularly appears on TV and radio, and has been interviewed on 7 News, Sunrise, SBS News, ABC Local, 3AW and 5AA. Tim is passionate about simplifying complex insurance topics for Australian consumers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Politics) from Macquarie University and a Tier 1 General Insurance (General Advice) certification, which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146).
If you’re interested in a media interview with Tim, please reach out to our PR team at aupr@finder.com. See full bio
Tim's expertise
Tim has written 149 Finder guides across topics including:
Get affordable cover for ambulance transport if you are not already covered under Medicare. Compare quotes from Australian funds to decide which level of protection is best for you.
Learn how to get cheap health insurance and what you can expect for your money.
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