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HBF health insurance review

Winner of the 2024 Finder Insurance Award, HBF is a stand-out health insurer with some of the best value policies on the market.

Our verdict

Pros

  • HBF offers low-cost policies, including Basic Plus hospital cover for less than $20 a week
  • As the 2024 FInder Insurance Award winner, HBF beats most health insurance brands on benefits and value
  • Plenty of options with 6 hospital policies and 6 extras policies to choose from

Cons

  • HBF's Gold tier hospital policies aren't the cheapest health insurance policies on the market
  • If you want cover mainly for braces, you'll be able to find cheaper Extras policies elsewhere
  • If you prefer a physical branch, your only options are in WA

HBF health insurance

HBF offers a range of hospital and extras cover. To help find the best health insurance policy for you, it's best to compare multiple providers.

Name and lozenges Finder Score Treatments Price
Finder score
7.1
  • Rehabilitation
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Dental surgery
  • Hernia and appendix
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Pain management
  • Gynaecology
  • Lung and chest
$110.70
per month
Go to SiteView details
Basic Hospital Plus Elevate $750/$1500 Excess
Finder AwardBasic Plus$750 excess
Finder score
6.8
  • Rehabilitation
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Dental surgery
  • Hernia and appendix
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Pain management
  • Gynaecology
  • Lung and chest
$119.35
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
8.6
  • Joint reconstructions
  • Ear nose and throat
  • Blood
  • Back neck and spine
  • Dental surgery
  • Eye excluding cataracts
  • Cancer
  • Lung and chest
$136.05
per month
Go to SiteView details
Silver Hospital $750/$1500 Excess
Finder AwardSilver Plus$750 excess
Finder score
7.8
  • Lung and chest
  • Back neck and spine
  • Cataracts
  • Joint replacements
  • Blood
  • Dental surgery
  • Palliative care
  • Pregnancy and birth
$170.90
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
7.3
  • Lung and chest
  • Back neck and spine
  • Cataracts
  • Joint replacements
  • Blood
  • Dental surgery
  • Palliative care
  • Pregnancy and birth
$243.95
per month
Go to SiteView details
Finder score
6.6
  • Cataracts
  • Joint replacements
  • Palliative care
  • Pregnancy and birth
  • Sleep studies
  • Weight loss surgery
  • Rehabilitation
  • Insulin pumps
$361.80
per month
Go to SiteView details
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Showing 6 of 6 results
Name and lozenges Finder Score Treatments Price
Urgent Ambulance
Extras cover
Finder score
8.4
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$6.45
per month
Go to SiteView details
Basic Extras
Extras cover
Finder score
8.4
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$27.05
per month
Go to SiteView details
Flex 50
Finder AwardExtras cover
Finder score
7.8
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$48.50
per month
Go to SiteView details
Flex 60
Extras cover
Finder score
6.7
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$73.40
per month
Go to SiteView details
Complete 60
Extras cover
Finder score
7.6
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$86.85
per month
Go to SiteView details
Top 70
Extras cover
Finder score
6.5
  • General dental
  • Major dental
  • Optical
  • Physiotherapy
  • Chiropractic
  • Psychology
  • Remedial massage
  • Hearing aids
$154.45
per month
Go to SiteView details
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Showing 6 of 6 results

Get the lowdown on Finder Score

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 HBF health insurance?

  • 4.18/5 overall for Customer Satisfaction — higher than the average of 4.13
  • 4.57/5 for Trust — higher than the average of 4.46
  • 4.2/5 for Customer Service — higher than the average of 4.17

Based on HBF health insurance scores in Finder's 2024 Customer Satisfaction Awards.

How to make a claim

There are a few ways to claim with HBF.

  • HBF App: Download from the App Store or Google Play to claim via the app
  • myHBF: Claim online through HBF"s digital portal, myHBF
  • On the spot: Swipe your member card or tap your digital member card when paying
  • At a branch: Visit your nearest HBF branch
  • Mail: Return a claim form by mail to HBF, GPO Box 1440, Perth WA 6845

Complaints info

HBF has a promising complaints history. The 2023 State of the Health Funds Report noted that HBF has 7.7% of market share but accounted for only 3.7% of complaints received. This means it received fewer complaints than average.

Finder Awards badge

Congratulations, HBF!

HBF received the following awards in the 2024 Product Awards:

  • 'Health Insurer of the Year' - Winner
  • 'Health Insurance - Basic Hospital' - Winner
  • 'Health Insurance - Silver Hospital' - Winner
  • 'Health Insurance - Medium Extras' - Winner
  • 'Health Insurance - Bronze Hospital' - Highly Commended
  • 'Health Insurance - Gold Hospital' - Highly Commended
Full list of 2024 winners

FAQs

Nicola Middlemiss's headshot
Senior writer

Nicola Middlemiss is a contributing writer at Finder, with a special interest in personal finance and insurance. Formerly a business and finance journalist, Nicola has written thousands of articles helping Australians better understand insurance and grow their personal wealth. She has contributed to a wide range of publications, including Domain, the Educator, Financy, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Insurance Business, MoneyMag, Mortgage Professional, Yahoo Finance, Your Investment Property, and Wealth Professional. Nicola has a Tier 1 General Insurance (General Advice) certification and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Leeds. See full bio

Nicola's expertise
Nicola has written 232 Finder guides across topics including:
  • Personal finance
  • Personal insurance, including car, health, home, life, pet and travel insurance
  • Commercial business insurance

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