Depending on where you live, you may not need a policy with ambulance cover.
- Queensland and Tasmania: Emergency ambulance services are covered by the state government.
- NSW and the ACT: All hospital policies come with emergency ambulance cover – so you’ll be covered with any hospital or combined policy you select.
- South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory: You can buy emergency ambulance cover directly from the ambulance service. Alternatively, some health fund policies will cover ambulance in your state or territory or refund at least part of the cost of the ambulance service cover.
- Rural Western Australia: You can buy emergency ambulance cover directly from the ambulance service. Alternatively, some health fund policies will cover ambulance or refund at least part of the cost of the ambulance service cover.
- Metropolitan Western Australia: If you want to be covered for ambulance you need to buy a health insurance policy with ambulance cover.
Who is Medibank?
Medibank was launched by the Australian government in 1976, initially as a nonprofit entity but converted to for-profit in 2009. It was privatised in 2014 and today is one of Australia’s largest health funds with 3.6 million members. It also owns the AHM health insurance brand.
Phone: 134 190
Website: medibank.com.au
How to save on your Medibank health insurance premium
Medibank doesn’t offer any discounts for prepaying your premium or paying your premium by direct debit, but there are discounts available for young people who buy health insurance before they turn 30.
Review, switch and save
If you want to check whether you’re getting the best deal, you can review your health insurance at any time (in fact, it’s good practice to do it at least once a year). To help you wade through the seemingly infinite options, our insurance experts developed a tool that lets you compare health insurance based on your needs so you can find cover that works for you, and potentially save yourself hundreds.
Does Medibank get many complaints from members?
Medibank has a Medium complaints rating.
When we score policies we give each fund a complaints rating, based on the number of complaints and serious disputes the Ombudsman deals with. We take into account the size of the fund, so big funds don’t get automatically penalised for having more complaints. The ratings are Low, Medium and High. A Low rating is better than a High rating – it means the fund has fewer complaints and fewer serious disputes for its size.
How good is Medibank’s gap cover?
A medical gap is the difference between Medicare’s recommended fee and what your doctor actually charges for a treatment or service.
Health funds have agreements with particular doctors and hospitals to cover all of the gap, which are called ‘no gap agreements’, or part of that gap, which are called ‘known gap agreements’ (these will have lower out-of-pocket costs, usually less than $500).
Our graphic below displays the CHOICE gap rating, which takes into account the percentage of services where members either paid no gap or a known gap, compared to the state average.
Rating scale
- Well above average
- Above average
- Average
- Below average
- Well below average
Australian Capital Territory
Average.
New South Wales
Below average.
Northern Territory
Average.
Queensland
Below average.
South Australia
Below average.
Tasmania
Average.
Victoria
Below average.
Western Australia
Well below average.
How many hospital agreements does Medibank have in each state?
The benefit amount your fund pays you for hospital services depends not only on the type of cover you buy, but also whether your fund has an agreement with the hospital where you’re treated.
The table below shows how many hospital agreements Medibank has in each state and territory compared to the fund with the highest number (the industry maximum). Note that public hospitals don’t have agreements with specific funds and are generally treated as though they’re agreement hospitals.
Medibank private hospital agreements
In the Australia Capital Territory Medibank has…
5 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 6.
6 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.
In New South Wales Medibank has…
89 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 92.
80 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 105.
In the Northern Territory Medibank has…
1 private hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 1.
1 day hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 2.
In Queensland Medibank has…
49 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 58.
44 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 54.
In South Australia Medibank has…
20 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 20.
21 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 31.
In Tasmania Medibank has…
8 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 8.
7 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.
In Victoria Medibank has…
65 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 71.
53 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 80.
In Western Australia Medibank has…
21 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 23.
20 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 29.
Does Medibank offer ambulance cover?
All Medibank extras, hospital and combined policies have emergency ambulance cover.
Depending on where you live, you may not need a policy with ambulance cover.
- Queensland and Tasmania: Emergency ambulance services are covered by the state government.
- NSW and the ACT: All hospital policies come with emergency ambulance cover – so you’ll be covered with any hospital or combined policy you select.
- South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory: You can buy emergency ambulance cover directly from the ambulance service. Alternatively, some health fund policies will cover ambulance in your state or territory or refund at least part of the cost of the ambulance service cover.
- Rural Western Australia: You can buy emergency ambulance cover directly from the ambulance service. Alternatively, some health fund policies will cover ambulance or refund at least part of the cost of the ambulance service cover.
- Metropolitan Western Australia: If you want to be covered for ambulance you need to buy a health insurance policy with ambulance cover.
Does Medibank offer family policies that cover adult children?
- Adult children are covered on family policies for free until they turn 21.
- Full-time students are covered on family policies for free until they turn 31.
- Adult children younger than 31 can be covered on extended family policies for an extra cost.
Does Medibank let you claim online or in-app?
You can claim online or via the Medibank app for acupuncture, chiropractic/osteopathy, psychology, dental, physiotherapy, dietetics, optical, orthodontics, eye and speech therapy, and remedial massage.
