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Health insurance waiting periods
Hospital policies always have a minimum 2-month waiting period – some won't let you claim for 12 months. However, some extras policies let you claim right away.
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Step 1/2 - About your cover
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Depending on your age, you may be eligible for an
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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.
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$93,001 to $108,000
$108,001 to $144,000
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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.
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Restricted cover, You may be partially covered for
this category.
Not covered. Optional for insurer to include.
*Prices updated November 2024, in line with Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices reflect the cheapest available for a single individual with less than $97,000 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
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Podiatry
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You cannot waive waiting periods for hospital treatment, but you can transfer if you switch funds.
You will need to serve a 2-month waiting period for most hospital treatment and longer if it is a pre-existing condition.
Only extras policies will let you skip waiting periods for out-of-hospital care such as dental.
Can I get health insurance with no waiting period?
No for hospital
You can't skip waiting periods for hospital treatment in a private hospital. You will always need to have hospital insurance for at least 2 months before you can claim or 12 months if you need treatment for a pre-existing condition.
Yes for extras
Some extras insurance policies let you skip waiting periods for general dental, optical, physio and more. Remember, extras refers to out-of-hospital treatment only.
Can I get hospital insurance with no waiting period?
Hospital insurance always has a waiting period of at least 2 months. This is the same for all insurers. They need to adhere to the guidelines set out by the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman. The only exception to this is when you're switching funds – served waiting periods will transfer over.
Pregnancy: 12 months
All childbirth and pregnancy services come with a 12-month waiting period before you can claim on health insurance.
Pre-existing conditions: 12 months
You will need to wait 12 months if the medical issue you need treatment for is considered a pre-existing condition. For example, if you tear a ligament, then you take out health insurance, you will need to wait 12 months for surgery. There will generally be medical records showing if you had your illness or injury before you took out insurance.
Psychiatric care, rehabilitation and palliative care: 2 months
When you take out hospital insurance, you will need to pay for cover for 2 months before you are covered. Health insurers are not allowed to waive hospital waiting periods.
Switching funds?
If you're switching to a similar level of health insurance cover, you won't have to re-serve any waiting periods for treatment you were previously covered for. For example, if both your new and previous policy covered joint reconstructions, you will be covered straight away. If you change your health insurance policy to a higher level of cover, you will have to serve the waiting periods. This applies regardless of whether you're switching funds or remaining with the same insurer.
Can I get extras insurance with no waiting period?
Yes. You can skip general dental waiting periods with some of ahm's policies. These are the only policies to permanently offer this benefit. We looked at all health insurance policies on the market. This is accurate as of October 2024.
All come with the following perks:
You get to skip 2- and 6-month waiting periods for general dental as well as optical, psychology, pharmacy and remedial massages.
You get up to 2 free dental check-ups per year – just make sure you use one of ahm's partner dentists.
You also get 100% back on optical, up to the annual limit – this includes frames, prescription lenses and contact lenses.
We arranged our top picks from the least to the most comprehensive.
Top pick: Lifestyle Extras
Lifestyle Extras
from $57.41 /month
Cover for 11 extras treatments
General Dental
Major Dental
Optical
Physiotherapy
Hearing aids
+7 other treatments covered
Top pick: Family extras
Family Extras
from $62.09 /month
Cover for 13 extras treatments
General Dental
Major Dental
Optical
Physiotherapy
Hearing aids
+8 other treatments covered
Top pick: Super extras
Super Extras
from $93.56 /month
Cover for 13 extras treatments
General Dental
Major Dental
Optical
Physiotherapy
Hearing aids
+8 other treatments covered
We picked these policies because they were the only eligible†extras policies on the market that offered zero waiting periods for general dental and optical (without a special offer). We arranged them from the least to the most comprehensive.
To be eligible, policies needed to be available to purchase in October 2024 from a non-restricted provider with at least a 0.5% national market share.
Quotes are based on a single individual with less than $97,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.
"I usually take out extras cover a couple times a year when I need a dental check-up. I always go with an insurer like ahm that has no waiting period, then book through one of its no-gap providers."
Frequently asked questions about no waiting periods
Yes, there are 2 cases in which health insurers sometimes waive waiting periods:
If you already have a hospital policy and you're switching to a similar level of cover with another fund.
As a sign-up incentive, some insurers let you skip waiting periods for extras treatments such as dental, chiro and optical.
You cannot typically use hospital insurance straight away. You will need to wait 2 months before you can claim. If you're seeking treatment related to a pre-existing condition, you will need to wait 12 months. However, some extras (out of hospital) policies let you claim straight away.
Yes. You can skip waiting periods for general dental with ahm. It has a $500 annual general dental limit with no waiting period and 2 no-gap check-ups.
Remember: You may be able to get no waiting period dental with more funds if you take advantage of sign-up deals or offers. Check them out here.
Pregnancy and childbirth hospital services come with a 12-month waiting period. The only way to get this waiting period waived is if you've already served it with another health fund.
Be aware though. Even if you've been with a fund for years, it won't count that time unless you've held a policy that covers childbirth.
So, if you have a bronze-level hospital policy for 10 years and upgrade to gold so you're covered for childbirth, you'll still have to wait another 12 months before you can claim.
This means you should lock in gold-level cover before you start trying to have a baby. Otherwise, you won't be able to take advantage of those benefits.
However, there are some pregnancy benefits you may be able to access without serving a 12-month waiting period – but only out-of-hospital services. Some extras policies include benefits for prenatal and postnatal services, such as birthing classes, lactation consultants and visits from a registered midwife.
Yes. Even if you switch funds halfway through a waiting period, you won't start from scratch for treatments you've already served. That means if you serve 6 months with 1 fund, you'll only have to serve 6 months with another in order to earn your 12-month waiting period.
If you have a small break in cover, you won't necessarily lose your served waiting periods. However, this break can usually only be a couple of weeks or months at most – after that, you'll have to serve the waiting periods again.
Yes. Both refer to the amount of time you need to wait before health insurance benefits become available.
Health insurance for hospital cover always has a waiting period of at least 2 months. Health insurance for extras cover is the only type of health insurance with flexibility around waiting periods. ahm's extras policies have a range of services that are available without a waiting period. These include common needs like general dental and optical.
Gary Ross Hunter was an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). See full bio
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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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