Depending on where you live, you may not need a policy with ambulance cover.
- Queensland and Tasmania: Emergency ambulance services are covered by your state government.
- New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: 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 NIB?
NIB provides health cover to almost 1.2 million Australians. It was established over 60 years ago and is a for-profit company. There are NIB eyecare and dental centres across NSW and Victoria.
NIB also operates these health funds:
- Qantas Health
- Suncorp Health
- ING Health
- AAMI Health
- Apia Health
- Priceline
- Real Health Insurance
- Seniors Health Insurance
- GU Health (corporate fund).
Phone: 13 16 42
Website: nib.com.au
How to save on your NIB health insurance premium
You can review your private health insurance at any time to see if you’re getting the best deal (it’s good practice to do it at least once a year). With thousands of health insurance policies on the market, it can be hard to make sense of your options. So our insurance experts developed a tool that lets you compare health insurance so you can find cover that works for you, and potentially save yourself hundreds.
If you decide your current policy is good value for money and suits your needs, prepay your premium by 31 March. This is an excellent way to save money as it ‘locks in’ your current premium and means you’ll avoid the 1 April price increase for up to 13 months.
NIB discounts and promo offers
While there aren’t any discounts for prepaying your annual premium, there are discounts of up to 4% available for eligible customers who pay by direct debit. There are also youth discounts offered on all hospital and combined policies and these are transferable (meaning you can transfer a discount from another fund to one of these policies).
Does NIB get many complaints from members?
NIB 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 NIB’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
Below average.
New South Wales
Average.
Northern Territory
Well below average.
Queensland
Below average.
South Australia
Average.
Tasmania
Average.
Victoria
Below average.
Western Australia
Average.
How many hospital agreements does NIB 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 NIB has in your state 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.
NIB hospital agreements
In the Australian Capital Territory this fund has…
6 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 6.
8 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.
In New South Wales this fund has…
89 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 92.
89 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 105.
In the Northern Territory this fund has…
1 private hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 1.
2 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 2.
In Queensland this fund has…
51 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 58.
44 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 54.
In South Australia this fund has…
18 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 20.
23 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 31.
In Tasmania this fund 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 this fund has…
68 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 71.
74 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 80.
In Western Australia this fund has…
21 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 23.
22 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 29.
Does NIB offer ambulance cover?
All NIB 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 your state government.
- New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: 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 NIB 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 32 can be covered on extended family policies for an extra cost.
Does NIB let you claim online or in-app?
You can claim online and via an app for all services.
