ACA is a restricted health fund for staff of the Seventh Day Adventist church and their families. Its hospital coverage puts up some good numbers, but it's not for everyone.
ACA is the equal best fund for hospital related charges covered, tied only with HBF.
It's also tied second place for the percentage of hospital services available with no gap. It's tied with HBF, and second only to RT health Fund, another restricted fund.
Cons
As a restricted health fund, not everyone is eligible to join ACA. Membership is only open to current and past staff of the Seventh Day Adventist church.
Why compare health insurance with Finder?
We don't ask for your phone or email to see prices.
With 1 click, you can open your results to nearly every fund in Australia.
You pay the same price as going direct – we charge no fees.
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
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...
Who can join ACA?
Membership of ACA Health Benefits Fund is open to the following people:
Current and past employees of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia (including any of its institutions such as the Sydney Adventist Hospital, Adventist Retirement Villages and Adventist Schools)
The spouse, partner, dependent, sibling, parent or grandchild of an eligible person mentioned above
Past members of the ACA Health Benefits Fund.
To join, all you have to do is download an application form from the health fund website, fill it out and then submit it via email or post. A Member Service Representative will then contact you when processing your application to discuss your health cover needs. Joining a private health fund offers many benefits, including private hospital accommodation and treatment, your choice of doctor or specialist, cover for the Medical Gap and cover for a wide range of general treatments. There are also financial benefits to be had by gaining the Australian Government Rebate and avoiding a Lifetime Health Cover premium loading and a Medicare Levy Surcharge.
What is covered?
ACA fund members can choose to take out standalone hospital or extras cover, or to combine the two forms of cover in a packaged policy. Available hospital cover options include:
Hospital cover
Basic Hospital. Cover for the basics. With this policy, you'll get a shared room in a public hospital and private treatment in a public hospital, and get covered for specialist doctor, anaesthetist, pathology and radiology fees.
Bronze Essentials Hospital. With Bronze Essentials, you'll get cover for all Bronze level cover, such as lung and chest, blood, back, neck and spine and more.
Gold Private Hospital. Comprehensive cover that includes all 38 clinical categories required for gold. You need to pay a co-payment out of your own pocket if you need to go to hospital.
Gold Deluxe Hospital.This is the same as Gold Private Hospital but there is no co-payment. As a result, it'll likely cost a little more than Gold Private Hospital.
General treatment cover options available through the ACA Health Benefits Fund include:
This extras option is more affordable but does not offer a broad a range of benefits or as generous benefit limits as Complete Ancillary Cover. However, it does cover treatments such as ambulance transport, general dental, glasses and contact lenses, physiotherapy, remedial massage and more.
What is not covered by ACA?
Your ACA Health Benefits Fund claim will not be paid if:
It is for a surgeon’s fees for podiatric surgery
Hospital accommodation for nursing home type patients
Services for which Medicare does not pay a benefit, such as for cosmetic surgery
Your membership is in arrears
It is for a service rendered before you had sat out a specified waiting period
It is for service you receive as an outpatient, for example in a hospital’s emergency department
It is for a service which you are entitled to claim the cost of under compensation insurance
It is for services received more than two years prior to your claim
It is for services provided in countries outside Australia
It is for ambulance charges when it is not medically necessary for you to be transported in an ambulance
Your hospital requests an ambulance transfer because it does not have the medical facilities to treat you.
How much will it cost you?
A wide range of factors can influence the cost of your ACA Health Benefits Fund health insurance premiums, including:
The level of cover you choose
Whether you choose standalone cover or combined cover
Whether you take out a single or family policy
Whether you elect to pay your premiums weekly, monthly or yearly
When you take out cover, as you may have to pay a premium loading under the Lifetime Health Cover Scheme
How much you earn, as this influences your eligibility for the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
ACA Health Benefits Fund premiums can be paid via direct debit, credit card, payroll deduction, by mail or in person at the ACA Health Office.
How do I make a claim with ACA
ACA aims to make the claims process as quick and easy as possible. Many general treatment claims can be processed on the spot at the provider using electronic claiming, all you have to do is swipe your membership card. Where electronic claiming is not available, fill out an ACA Health claim form and submit it, along with the relevant receipt or invoice, to ACA via mail. For hospital claims, the hospital will request your private health insurance details whenever you are admitted. You can simply present your membership card and everything else will be taken care of. When you need to make a medical claim (for doctors’ charges and tests as an inpatient), providers that participate in the Access Gap Cover scheme will typically bill the health fund directly. When you visit a provider that does not participate in Access Gap Cover you will need to first claim your reimbursement from Medicare and then fill out a claim form to claim the remaining gap from ACA Health. You can also submit a claim online by logging in to your account or via the ACA Health Claiming app. You can download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play Store.
Frequently asked questions
ACA Health is a pretty good health fund, scoring high or even top on many of the metrics that the ombudsman tracks. For example, it's tied first on hospital related charges covered with HBF. It's also tied second with HBF on no gap hospital services.
ACA Health is a restricted fund, so not everyone can join. Membership is only available to current and past employees of the Seventh Day Adventist church, as well as their families.
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:
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
What is the LHC loading, the MLS and the Private Health Rebate? These terms could make the difference between whether or not you can afford your private health premiums in the future.
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.
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
