Corporate health insurance isn't as common in Australia as in North America, but does exist.
Some of the biggest funds in Australia offer corporate cover including Bupa, Medibank and HCF.
A more common alternative to corporate health insurance are personal policies from restricted funds, who only offer cover to certain professions.
Which funds offer corporate policies in Australia?
There aren't many funds that offer corporate health insurance in Australia. Below are the health insurers currently offering corporate health plans. Most of the big funds (other than ahm) have some sort of corporate partnership program.
Health fund
Features of corporate plans offered by open health funds
HCF's corporate plans offer both hospital and extras policies:
Corporate Bronze Plus, Standard Silver Plus, Silver Plus and Gold hospital cover with no excesses for kids and access to a wide range of health and wellbeing programs.
Essentials, Lifestyle, Active, Advanced and Ultimate extras cover policies, which include 100% back on two dental checks per year, initial physio, chiro, osteo and podiatry consultations and certain spectacles and lenses.
Medibank corporate plans include:
Hospital cover with no hospital excesses for kids.
Flexible extras cover with a combined limit of $1,500 to spend at any recognised provider and a separate $300 limit for optical.
nib corporate plans offer a choice of combined hospital and extras policies:
Subsidised Corporate Health Plans. Your organisation pays for the total cost of your employees health cover.
Partially Subsidised Corporate Health Plans. Your organisation contributes part of the cost of your employees health cover.
Voluntary Health Plans. Your employees contribute the total cost of their health cover.
Bupa corporate health plans provide a range of benefits to members including:
Up to 90% back on general dental and selected optical, physiotherapy and chiropractic services.
Group autopay for easy premium payments.
A Bupa Corporate Customer Card for easy claims, discounts at Hoyts, Event Cinemas and Goodlife Health Clubs.
A 24-hour Overseas Health Advice Line when travelling.
GU Health corporate plans offer both hospital and extras policies:
Hospital cover includes hospital accommodation, theatre fees in a public or partner private hospital, benefits for a wide range of inpatient services and an Access Gap Cover scheme.
Extras cover includes a range of treatments with varying benefit limits, plus GU Health members can enjoy a wide range of partner discounts including clothing and accessories, travel insurance and hampers.
HBF's corporate plans offer a choice of hospital and extras cover which include:
Basic Hospital Plus, Bronze Hospital Plus, Silver Hospital, Silver Hospital Plus and Gold Hospital cover.
Basic extras, Flex 50, Flex 60, Complete 60, and Top 70 extras cover.
HIF corporate health plans include the standard benefits you would expect such as the freedom to choose your healthcare providers and access to over 500 hospitals across Australia, as well as:
Rebates of up to 100% for common preventative dental treatments.
No hospital co-payments.
A SmartClaim mobile app for easy claiming.
Competitive quotes on travel insurance.
Access to a range of healthy lifestyle benefits including weight loss programs, yoga, pilates, gym memberships, cancer screenings and quit smoking programs.
Queensland Country Health's corporate plans include:
Budget, Vital and Better hospital cover (Vital and Better includes a choice of excess).
Young, Select, Essential and Premium extras cover (Premium provides generous benefit limits for 13 different services).
CBHS corporate plans offer both hospital and extras policies:
Entry (Basic), Bronze, Silver and Gold Hospital cover (Gold includes gap cover up to 100% of amounts in excess of the MBS fee, boarder accommodation for a friend or relative up to $160 per admission and Hospital Substitute Treatment at home by a registered nurse).
Basic, Classic and Advanced Extras cover (Advanced includes unlimited preventative dental, higher overall limits on major dental, optical, physio, chiro and therapies and wellness benefits for health management).
Pros and cons of corporate health insurance policies
If you're an employer thinking about offering health insurance to your staff, there are some pros and cons to consider.
Pros
A great package may help attract and retain great employees for your business.
Wellness and vitality programs from your health fund can improve the health of your staff.
Because they're bought in bulk, corporate policies are often cheaper than personal plans.
Cons
Not everyone wants their health insurance to be tied to their employment, especially in Australia.
Maintaining a corporate health insurance policy will require some additional work from your Human Resources department.
How do corporate health policies work in Australia?
In Australia, health insurance isn't tied to your employer, like it is in some other countries, notable the United States. This is a really good thing, as it means we don't have the same reliance on our employer for our health and wellbeing. I'm sure there are people that would disagree with that statement, but in my humble opinion they would be wrong.
Anyway, most of Australia's corporate health insurance policies are more like corporate partnerships. Health funds will partner with comapnies - typically big ones like airlines and universities - to offer discounts, sign-up offers or a special set of corporate policies that might offer better value than retail policies.
Who pays for corporate health policies?
In Australia there are typically 3 ways corporate health insurance can be paid for:
Fully funded: The employer pays for the health cover of their employees as a benefit of employment.
Partially funded: The cost of health insurance is shared by the employer and their employees. this could be by percentage, or by product.
Employee pays: The employer strikes a partnership with a health fund that offers exclusive policies, benefits or discounts, then the employee can choose to join and pay for it themselves.
The level of cover and who pays depends on the package the employer is able to negotiate with a health fund.
Is corporate health cover worth it?
If you're an Aussie employee with a corporate health insurance offer on the table, it's definitely worth considering. Sometimes, corporate policies are just normal policies with a discount. For example, Sydney Uni has a deal with Medibank to give staff 9% off their policy. That's a pretty solid offer! Of course, if your employer is offering to cover some of the cost, that's another green flag.
Remember, if you end your employment with a corporate policy, you'll still be able to be covered. You'll have to liaise with the health fund on the details, but they'll want to keep you as a customer. You may have to change the payment details and you might lose a discount, but you'll likely be able to stay on the same or a very similar policy.
Restricted funds: Industry-wide corporate health cover?
While not technically a corporate policy, there are several funds in Australia that are restrcited to people in particular industries. The largest of these is Teacher's Health Fund, but there are options for doctors, police, the Navy and more.
While the difference between restricted and open funds is relatively minimal, having access to one does give you another option to compare.
How much does health insurance cost?
We ask hundreds of Australians what they're paying for health insurance every month. Here's what their bill looked like in October 2024.
Extras only: $60
Basic: $97
Bronze: $145
Silver: $176
Gold: $210
Price based on 500+ responses for single hospital or extras insurance.
Frequently asked questions
Choosing the right corporate health plan can be hard for an employer. There are many options offered by several funds, and you'll need to decide whether to fund the plan yourself, share funding with your employees or let them pay for it all. The main factor to consider include:
The number of employees you have.
How willing they will be to participate.
Whether the plan is a true incentive to work for you.
Whether you have the time, money and resources to manage the policy if you choose to fund it yourself.
Most insurers that offer corporate health plans have whole teams dedicated to implementing and running them, including educating employees and organising health and wellbeing programs. If you don't have a lot of resources to throw at it yourself, a managed plan may be more beneficial. If you're still unsure, the best bet may be to get in touch with a health fund using one of the links in the table on this page, and having a chat.
Some small businesses shy away from corporate health plans, believing them to be only for large companies with a lot of employees. A corporate health plan can, in fact, benefit a business of any size due to the fact that it can be tailored to fit the available budget, the number of employees and the preferred type of funding.
If an employer is time poor, the administration can be taken care of by a broker, whose can help you by:
Finding the right plan that fits the businesses requirements.
Educating both employer and employees on its workings.
Providing an ongoing point of contact for advice and assistance and reducing costs.
Minimising risks and increasing the quality of the cover over time.
As well as providing affordable health insurance through a corporate health plan, employers can improve workplace health in a number of other ways including:
Identifying and eliminating sources of workplace stress such as harassment and bullying.
Improving the workplace environment by upgrading things like lighting and ergonomics and providing relaxation areas for breaks.
Recognising and rewarding good work and providing opportunities for advancement.
Creating a better work/life balance by providing more flexible hours or the option to work from home.
Choosing a corporate health plan that offers free or discounted access to health and wellbeing services and programs or initiating your own program for employees.
Many people mistakenly believe that they wouldn't qualify for a corporate discount on health insurance, when in fact there are a number of ways you can receive a discounted health plan. These include:
Through your employer and in some cases a previous employer
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
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Tim has written 122 Finder guides across topics including:
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