How to choose the best health insurance for single-parent families

On this page:

• The four tiers of health insurance
• How Medibank and Bupa compare
• Should you downgrade your policy if you're done having kids?
• Five steps to better, cheaper health insurance

Single-parent families are unfairly treated by health insurance providers in ways that don’t make a lot of sense. 

While two-parent families usually pay the same premiums as couples (meaning their kids are insured for free), single parents are charged extra for their children’s health cover.

Single parent policies cost 60–70% more than single policies on many policies on average, and some funds even charge single parents the same premium as two-parent families.

This means it’s especially important for single parents to compare health insurance policies and see what their options are.

Aside from premiums, though, some insurers do give special treatment to kids, whether you’re a single or a two-parent family, including:

• no excess or co-payments for children if they need to go to hospital
• free extras services for children (if they go to the dentist, for example)
• extended coverage for full-time students on your family policy up to age 31 (an extra cost may apply for other young adults). 

Read more about the perks available for children in the best health insurance for families.

The four tiers of health insurance

In Australia health insurance policies are categorised into four tiers:

• Basic – very little if any cover in a private hospital
• Bronze – low cover
• Silver – medium cover
• Gold – full or top cover.

In between these main tiers there are also Silver Plus, Bronze Plus and Basic Plus policies that cover at least one service more than the normal Silver, Bronze or Basic policies. For example, a Silver Plus policy could include cover for pregnancy or cataract surgery (services usually only covered under Gold policies).

Best health funds for single parents

Since April 2007, private health funds have been able to give single parents a reduced premium compared to the family rate. Before that time, health insurance regulation meant that single parents always paid the same premium as two-parent families. 

So single parents generally don’t pay as much as they used to, but they still pay more than singles without kids. And not all health funds charge single parents lower premiums than families.

CHOICE tip: If you’ve been a loyal customer and stayed with the same fund and policy for the past 10 years or more, you may be stuck in the old system. Check with your insurer.

For the funds that do offer lower premiums to single parents, the amount can vary. Most of them charge single parents 10–30% less than families.

Health funds may also offer single parents lower premiums for hospital cover, but not extras cover.

Policies offering single parents a better deal

The policies we found that penalise single parents the least are: 

• Medibank Bronze Plus and Bronze with a $250 excess and Bronze Plus Assure with excess at $500 or $750, which charge single parents a 33–43% premium increase compared to a single without a child
• HCI Bronze Plus, Silver Plus and Gold, which charge a 40% premium increase for single parents
• Navy Health Gold, Silver Plus and Bronze Plus, which charge 40% extra on top of standard single cover.

Worst policies for single parents

The below hospital policies charge single-parent families about the same as two-parent families.

• Reserve Bank (Gold policies) 
• Hunter Health (there are no policies specifically available for single parents, which means you have to pay for a family policy)
• NIB Gold with Basic Extras
• HCF Accident Only Basic

Check what’s included

Discounts aren’t everything. Some funds that charge single parents the same as families may offer cheaper policies with better value for money than other funds that do offer a single-parent discount. Use our comparison tool to review health insurance policies and see which ones are best for your situation and needs.

How Medibank and Bupa compare

On their Gold combined hospital and extras policies, Medibank and Bupa charge single parents only 8% and 7% less than families respectively. At the same time, couples pay the same as families and singles (without children) pay half the family rate.*

Should you downgrade your policy if you’re done having kids?

If you’ve finished having children, you may be considering downgrading to a policy without pregnancy and fertility cover – but this isn’t as simple as it might seem. 

In principle it makes sense not to pay for cover you won’t be using, but very few policies exclude pregnancy and fertility services without also excluding things you may still need, and those that do are often only a few dollars cheaper than full cover Gold policies. Some are even more expensive than policies that cover everything.

There’s another pitfall, too: policies that restrict or exclude some procedures can be changed to exclude more procedures. So unless you keep track of all the material the fund sends you and regularly check your policy, you might find yourself without cover for something you’ll actually need. 

In general, you tend to be better off with a policy that covers everything, as funds are much less likely to add restrictions to those.

Five steps to better, cheaper health insurance

We know getting a handle on this stuff can seem like a chore. It’s why our health insurance experts have put together a handy five-step action plan to help you through the process of reviewing, comparing and switching your health insurance policy. 

Follow these five easy steps below.

Health insurance terms explained

Excess

An extra amount, such as $500, charged once per hospital stay. It usually applies once (singles) or twice (couples and families) per year.

Co-payments

An extra amount, such as $70, that you pay per day while in hospital. It’s usually capped per hospital stay or per year.

Preferred providers

Health funds sign up dental practices or optical stores as part of their preferred provider network. Some clinics are even owned by the fund. 

Preferred providers may offer a discount to a health fund’s members, or the health insurer may pay members higher benefits if they go to preferred providers. For example, instead of a set dollar benefit, the fund may pay a percentage benefit, such as 75% of the bill, which can result in lower out-of-pocket costs for you.

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Uta

Uta worked at CHOICE from 1998-2024, finishing as a senior content producer with the money and travel team. You can find Uta on LinkedIn.

Uta worked at CHOICE from 1998-2024, finishing as a senior content producer with the money and travel team. You can find Uta on LinkedIn.