Hunter Health Insurance (HHI) is the new name of the former Cessnock District Health Fund. It has not only shed it's old name but it has also begun offering its products nationwide while overhauling its hospital cover to conform to new government standards.
HHI offers three types of cover: hospital, extras and ambulance-only. You can bundle any of these together or buy them separately, making HHI a great choice for those who want flexibility.
Top 3 features
Good for people who want cover from a small, community-based health fund that focuses on service.
Good for people who like to mix and match their hospital and extras cover.
Beware if you're after discounts, rewards and other material perks as HHI offers very few.
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Extras
Hospital
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*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.
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Who is Hunter Health Insurance?
Hunter Health Insurance was established as Cessnock District Health Fund in 1952 to serve the coal industry in New South Wales' Hunter Valley. Hunter Health has now opened its doors to all Australian residents and aims to deliver on both price and service.
What health insurance options are available?
Hospital
Not only do you have a broad selection of policies to choose from, but most of HHI's six hospital policies go well beyond the government's minimum requirements for cover.
Basic. This meets the Australian government's requirement to offer restricted cover for psychiatry, rehabilitation and palliative care but it goes well beyond that by providing restricted cover for all additional 35 clinical categories including cancer treatment, pregnancy, kidney dialysis, heart issues and pain management.
Bronze Plus Smart. Provides full cover all 18 clinical categories required for a Bronze label, plus full cover for additional categories like dental surgery, back/neck/spine treatment and insulin pumps.
Silver Plus Thrifty. Offers full cover for all 26 clinical categories required for Silver policies plus full cover for a few more like, lung and chest treatments, medically necessary plastic surgery and heart treatments.
Silver Plus Young. Covers everything Silver Plus Thrifty does plus pregnancy and birth.
Silver Plus. Covers everything Silver Plus Young does except pregnancy. It adds on Plus Young by including full cover for cataracts and full instead of restricted cover for palliative care.
HHI also offers a broad selection of extras policies. You can take these out alone or combined with one of HHI's hospital policies.
Ideal Extras. HHI's entry level policy, with cover for general dental, optical and a range of therapies like physio.
Healthy Extras. Cover for general dental, endodontic, major dental, optical, a range of therapies and a few more services like hearing aids and weight management programs.
Classic Extras. Very similar to Healthy Extras but with higher benefit limits.
Optimum Extras. Covers general dental, major dental, endodontic, orthodontic, optical, some medications, a range of therapies, psychology and devices like hearing aids and blood glucose monitors. Offers ambulance cover but only if you combine it with a hospital policy.
Elite Extras. Very similar to Optimum Extras but with higher benefit limits. Offers ambulance cover but only if taken with an HHI hospital policy.
Ambulance only
HHI has one ambulance-only policy that covers you for medically necessary emergency ambulance rides.
Young people discount
HHI offers an age-based discount to customers under 30, but only on the Gold hospital policy.
The age you are on 1 April 2019 or when you purchase your policy, whatever is later, determines the percentage that gets knocked off your policy. The best part is you get to keep that discount until you are 40, at which point it decreases by 2% per year.
Here is the discount you'll get based on how old you are on the date mentioned above:
18-25: 10% discount
26: 8% discount
27: 6% discount
28: 4% discount
29: 2% discount
How to make a claim
Hunter Health Insurance aims to make the claims process as easy as possible for members. Most hospitals and doctors will send your medical and hospital bills straight to HHI who will take care of it behind the scenes.
However, if you need to make an extras claim you can fill out the online claim form and submit it directly on the website. Alternatively, you can print out the claim form and either email it or send it via post to HHI.
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:
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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
Email me my results (optional)
To get a copy of your results for later, add your email below
