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 November 2024
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
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 121 Finder guides across topics including:
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.
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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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