Our insurance experts have reviewed extras health cover from more than 40 insurers to find the best policies on the market.
Join CHOICE to find out our recommended extras policies for seniors, families, singles and couples below. Unlike other comparison sites, we don’t get paid by any health insurers, so we only recommend the best policies for you.
Who should buy extras?
Extras insurance is for people who want help managing predictable healthcare costs. If you know how much you’re likely to spend on things like dental check-ups, physio sessions and glasses, you can use extras to reduce your out-of-pocket costs. If you claim back more than you spend on the policy, then you’ve got your money’s worth.
Don’t buy extras if you aren’t prepared to put the effort in to claim. If you keep paying your premium and don’t claim it back, it’s the same as that gym membership you never use: a waste of money.
Extras policies give you discounts on health services that aren’t covered by Medicare. These include dental costs, glasses, and allied health care like physiotherapy, chiropractic and podiatry. You can also claim for appliances like hearing aids, orthoses and blood glucose monitors.
Don’t buy extras if you aren’t prepared to put the effort in to claim
Extras isn’t insurance in the traditional sense of the word, where you buy it “just in case”. Think of it as more of a book of discount vouchers. By paying a monthly premium you can use it to spread your expenses more evenly over the course of the year. Used correctly it can even reduce your health costs.
Most people bundle an extras policy with their private hospital cover. This isn’t necessary: you can buy hospital cover on its own, and you don’t need extras to avoid the tax penalties the government imposes on people without health insurance.
General, major and preventative dental explained
When is dental care not just dental care? When it’s covered by your extras policy. Depending on your policy you might be covered for just the basic services, or the whole range of out-of-hospital dental treatments. Many insurers will have different annual limits for simple and complex treatment.
General dental is covered by just about every extras policy on the market. It includes all the basic, routine dental treatment you know and love, like X-rays, fillings and simple extractions.
Preventative dental refers to regular check-ups and cleans. It falls under general dental but sometimes insurers won’t count those items toward your annual limit.
Major dental includes bigger jobs like surgical tooth extractions and crowns.
Endodontic (root canals) is often bundled with major dental but is its own category, meaning insurers can have a separate limit for it, or exclude it entirely.
Orthodontic (braces) almost always has separate limits.
We’ve listed the cover each recommended policy offers for a regular check-up, which consists of periodic oral exam, scale and clean, and fluoride treatment. These are itemised separately on your bill, and your policy will have individual benefits for each. We’ve summed the three amounts to make it easier to compare.
How we compare extras
We compare policies on the following criteria.
Price
For seniors, the premium before the rebate for a single person must be under $90.
For families, the premium before the rebate for a family of two adults and two kids must be under $200.
For singles and couples, the premium before the rebate for a single person must be under $50.
Complaints
The rate and seriousness of complaints made to the ombudsman about the health fund. We only selected funds that have a low or medium complaints rating in our health insurance comparison.
Cover
In each recommended category, we score selected services that we decide need to be covered for that category. This includes:
the rebates available for individual items (e.g. a physio session) and the total amount you can claim in a year
the range of services available in a policy.
Product information for all health insurance products is published by the government at data.gov.au. We use complaint data published by the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman.
Ready to find the best extras cover?
Log in to see our pick for the best extras for seniors, families, singles and couples. These results are for CHOICE members only and focus on extras insurance. If you’re looking for hospital insurance policies, visit our health insurance comparison.
Our buying guide explains how to work out if your current extras insurance policy is right for you, what level of extras cover you need, and how much you can claim.
Daniel Graham is a Senior data analyst in the Insurance and utilities team. He maintains the CHOICE database of general insurance products and is the resident expert in insurance pricing. He covers home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously, Daniel has worked as a finance journalist and data journalist in the investigations team, focusing on insurance stories and comparisons.
Daniel has a Graduate Diploma of Journalism from UTS and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. He is RG146 compliance certified to provide general advice in Tier 2 General Insurance and is a member of the Media, Arts and Entertainment Alliance. LinkedIn
Daniel Graham is a Senior data analyst in the Insurance and utilities team. He maintains the CHOICE database of general insurance products and is the resident expert in insurance pricing. He covers home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously, Daniel has worked as a finance journalist and data journalist in the investigations team, focusing on insurance stories and comparisons.
Daniel has a Graduate Diploma of Journalism from UTS and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. He is RG146 compliance certified to provide general advice in Tier 2 General Insurance and is a member of the Media, Arts and Entertainment Alliance. LinkedIn
Jodi Bird is the Managing Financial Content Editor at CHOICE. Previously at CHOICE, he worked as Travel project lead and as a Finance specialist.
Jodi has over 30 years experience in financial services, having worked with major banks such as CBA, Westpac and Credit Suisse. He enjoys breaking down complex consumer decisions into easy to understand steps and holding companies to account for failing their customers. He is regularly called upon for expert commentary by major broadcasters such as the ABC, SBS, and Channels 7, 9, and 10.
Jodi has a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics from the University of Wollongong. He is RG146 compliance certified to provide general advice for General Insurance and is a Responsible Manager on CHOICE's Australian Financial Services License.
Find Jodi on LinkedIn.
Jodi Bird is the Managing Financial Content Editor at CHOICE. Previously at CHOICE, he worked as Travel project lead and as a Finance specialist.
Jodi has over 30 years experience in financial services, having worked with major banks such as CBA, Westpac and Credit Suisse. He enjoys breaking down complex consumer decisions into easy to understand steps and holding companies to account for failing their customers. He is regularly called upon for expert commentary by major broadcasters such as the ABC, SBS, and Channels 7, 9, and 10.
Jodi has a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics from the University of Wollongong. He is RG146 compliance certified to provide general advice for General Insurance and is a Responsible Manager on CHOICE's Australian Financial Services License.
Find Jodi on LinkedIn.
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