A family health insurance policy means your children are covered under the same policy as you.
Your life stage will depend on what family health insurance policy you need.
You can often keep your child on your policy for free until they are 25 – or even longer.
Compare family health insurance
Here are a range of family health insurance policies that include both hospital and extras, starting from the Bronze hospital tier. To compare all family policies on the market, use this health insurance comparison tool.
Finder survey: What are the main reasons Australians of different ages have hospital insurance?
Response
To get better health care for my family
18.35%
Source: Finder survey by Pure Profile of 1006 Australians, December 2023
How does family health insurance work?
A family health insurance policy means your children are covered for the same treatments and services as you are. You generally have 3 types of family health insurance to choose from:
Family hospital cover
This helps pay for in-hospital treatments at a private or public hospital, including theatre fees for surgery and accommodation. You usually get to choose your own doctor and the hospital you receive treatment at. There are 4 levels of cover to choose from: gold, silver, bronze and basic.
Family extras cover
This pays for the out-of-hospital services that Medicare doesn't generally cover. For example, dental, physio, some prescription medications and optometry.
Family combined cover
This is when you combine hospital and extras cover into a single policy. Lots of insurers offer combined packages tailored towards families.
What type of family health insurance do I need?
The type of family health insurance cover you need will depend on your life stage:
Starting a family
If you plan to start a family, or want more kids, all gold level hospital policies are required to cover pregnancy. You'll need it for at least 12 months before you can claim for childbirth or fertility treatments such as IVF.
Completed family
If you don't plan to have more children, then you can likely drop pregnancy cover and save some money with silver or bronze cover. It's also probably worth getting extras insurance that includes dental cover – maybe even orthodontics treatment as they get a little older.
Older children
Many family health insurance policies will cover your child as a dependent if they're under 25 and a student. If your current fund doesn't cover your child for free after they turn 21, but they're still dependent on you in some way, it could be worth switching to one that does.
How long can children remain on a family policy?
Your children can be covered under your family health insurance policy until they're no longer considered a dependant. There are 2 main classifications that are typically used:
Student dependant. A single person aged 21 to 25 who is studying full-time can be covered by a family policy.
Adult dependant. A single person aged 21 to 25 (in some cases 31) who is not studying full-time but is dependent on their parents in some way e.g. they live with them.
Did you know?
Teachers Health and Health Care Insurance (HCI) have increased the age of a dependant to 31. To be eligible, you need to be a student or reliant on your parents for maintenance and support in some way.
Health insurance tips for families
Review your cover. As your children grow up and your circumstances change, so do your health insurance needs. Reviewing your policy each year ensures that you're being covered for the things that matter most to your family.
Avoid combined limits. When considering an extras policy, try and find one that offers individual benefit limits for each service rather than overall combined limits. Your family may exceed individual limits if they aren't high enough.
Don't be afraid to switch. If you find a better policy offered by a different health fund then consider changing. Your benefits and any served waiting periods must be honoured by your new fund.
Split your cover. If one health fund has your ideal hospital policy, and another has the best* extras policy, there is no law that says you can't have a separate policy for each.
Get full ambulance cover. Look for policies that offer full ambulance cover, which pays benefits towards ambulance fees for non-life threatening journeys as well as emergency transport.
Rebates, tax and health insurance for families
Private health insurance rebate. This was introduced by the Australian government to help more people access health insurance. The rebate amount varies depending on your combined family income and your age. It can be claimed either as a premium reduction through your fund or as part of your tax return.
Medicare levy surcharge (MLS). The Australian government introduced the MLS to encourage more people to take out health insurance and reduce the strain on the public health system. If you don't have cover you pay an additional surcharge on top of the standard 2% Medicare Levy once your combined family income reaches $194,000 and above (based on new income thresholds which will apply from 1 July 2024).
MLS rate
Couples' income
0%
$0 - $194,000
1.0%
$194,001 - $226,000
1.25%
$226,001 - $302,000
1.5%
$302,001+
Why you can trust Finder's health insurance experts
You pay nothing. Finder is free to use. And you pay the same as going direct. No markups, no hidden fees.
You save time. We spend 100s of hours researching health insurance so you can sort the gold from the junk faster.
You can trust us. We say it like it is. We aren't owned by an insurer and our opinions are our own.
Yes. Emergency ambulance services are generally included in most family health insurance policies – typically under basic hospital cover.
Every family is different so we can't tell you exactly what's the best for you. However, we have put together a page on the best health insurance policies based on factors such as popularity, rewards and customer service to help you narrow down who to go with.
Gary Ross Hunter has over 6 years of expertise writing about insurance, including life, health, home, and car insurance. Having reviewed hundreds of product disclosure statements and published over 800 articles, he loves simplifying complex insurance topics for everyday readers. Gary has contributed to major outlets like Yahoo Finance, The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow, along with a Tier 2 General Advice certification, ensuring his work adheres to ASIC’s RG146 standards. See full bio
Gary Ross's expertise
Gary Ross has written 622 Finder guides across topics including:
How to find health insurance when you're no longer covered by your parents' policy.
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You pay nothing. Finder is free to use. And you pay the same as going direct. No markups, no hidden fees.
You save time. We spend 100s of hours researching health insurance so you can sort the gold from the junk faster.
You can trust us. We say it like it is. We aren't owned by an insurer and our opinions are our own.