Health insurance for single parents

Hospital cover pays benefits towards treatment as a private patient in either a private or public hospital. Having an appropriate level of private hospital cover gives you peace of mind and choice if something happens.

The hospital services you’ll be insured for will depend on your level of cover. Hospital cover is divided into four tiers: Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold, each covering a broader range of clinical categories (e.g. a standard Bronze hospital policy includes 18 unrestricted clinical categories and 3 restricted clinical categories, while a Gold hospital policy includes all 38 unrestricted clinical categories). Certain policies may also include select categories from the tier above, and these are known as ‘Plus’ or ‘+’ policies (e.g. Basic Plus, Bronze Plus and Silver Plus).

Keep in mind that your health insurance will not usually cover private emergency room fees since you’re not technically admitted to the hospital. Your single parent health insurance will typically come into effect once you’re admitted to a hospital as an inpatient or need further surgery following your emergency room visit.

Extras cover, or ancillary cover, helps pay the out-of-pocket expenses for outpatient medical services. This includes services not covered by Medicare, meaning that without extras cover, you’ll have to pay the full fee yourself.
Depending on your policy, this can include out-of-hospital services such as glasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, podiatry, speech therapy, physiotherapy, chiropractic work or even orthodontic work. These upfront costs can be substantial, and since they don’t require inpatient hospital treatment, a hospital insurance policy will not pay a benefit. However, extras cover (sometimes called general treatment) may help with these costs.

Thankfully, some general dental costs for children are partially covered by Medicare until they turn 17.¹ However, you might still want to consider extras cover for preventative dental check-ups or major dental, which could save you money in the long run.

Extras family cover is subject to various limits such as per-person and annual limits, so make sure you know exactly what’s included before claiming for extras services, as there is a good chance you’ll still have some out-of-pocket costs.

Yes, private health insurance policies for single parents will cost more than standard single adult policies. However, they will usually cost less than a two-parent family policy as there are fewer adults being covered. A single parent health insurance differs from a family policy, since couples can often add dependents at no additional cost. However, health insurance for single parents still typically costs less than a two-parent family policy providing a similar level of cover.

Yes, you can get rebates for single parent health insurance, providing you meet eligibility criteria. When you take out private hospital or extras cover in Australia, you may be eligible to claim the private health insurance rebate, depending on your income. This rebate allows you to either receive a lower premium for your health insurance or claim a percentage of your premiums back at tax time.

The rebate you’re entitled to is based on the income threshold you fall under and your age. As a single parent, your income is tested by the family thresholds, so if you earn under $210,000, you’ll be eligible for the highest possible rebate for your age.

If you’re separating from your partner and you’re on a family policy, you’ll both need to move to singles policies instead. However, for dependant(s) to be covered, one of you will need to take out a single parent policy. You can then request an additional membership card to give to your co-parent so they can take your child to medical appointments, such as dental check-ups or physio.

If you’re in the process of separating from your partner, there are a couple of other things you should keep in mind regarding health insurance:

• Waiting periods. You won’t need to re-serve your waiting periods when you switch to an equal (or lower) level of extras or hospital insurance cover, provided you’ve already completed those waiting periods previously and are switching from an active policy. If your policy is no longer active, your new health fund may still honour any waiting periods that you have already served, provided you switch to your new policy within a set number of days as nominated by the fund. You should contact your new health fund to understand their rules regarding waiting periods if you are unsure.
• Switching could save you money. Depending on your circumstances, a single parent policy may be a cheaper option than a family policy, as it covers one fewer adult. Moving from a family health insurance policy to a single parent policy can typically be done through a simple phone call. Switching to single parent cover could also affect your eligibility for the Australian Government rebate, as you’ll still fall under the family income threshold, but you and your partner’s income will no longer be combined.

No, a standard singles health insurance policy won’t cover your children.

You’ll have to change to a single parent family policy if you currently have singles health cover. If you’re looking to switch over, an easy way to do this is by using our free health insurance comparison service.

You can get policies for just your children but these are rare and only offered by a few health funds. Most insurers offer single-parent policies, so this is a simpler option than finding a child-only policy.

Single parent health insurance policies will usually continue to cover your children until they reach the age of 21. However, some funds may cover you up to age 31, provided your child meets certain eligibility criteria. For dependants with a disability, there is no age limit to remaining on their parents’ policy.

This depends on your policy, but your children can often stay on your single-parent health insurance cover until they turn 21. However, some health funds allow adult dependants to stay on their parent’s policy up to the age of 31.

In some cases, your dependent child must be studying full-time (a student dependant) to be covered for the maximum age limit without incurring an additional cost, so it’s a good idea to check with your health fund for the terms and conditions that apply to you.