Compare Extras Cover

Extras health insurance might seem like another confusing financial drain, but picking the right policy can genuinely save your wallet - and your teeth - from disaster. We'll break down exactly how extras cover works, what's included, and how to sift through the jargon to find the perfect match for your health needs and budget.

What exactly is extras cover?

Extras cover is a type of private health insurance that helps cover the costs of health treatments not included in Medicare, like dental, optical, and physiotherapy. Extras treatments normally happen outside of a hospital, which is what makes extras cover different from hospital health insurance.

Extras health insurance can help pay for services including, but not limited to:

Extras cover varies a lot between providers - some will cover things like laser eye surgery, gym memberships, and sunscreen. That's why it's great to use a quiz like ours to compare extras cover from all the health funds on the market to find the best fit for your needs.

Why comparing extras cover matters

Not all extras policies are created equal, and comparing them could mean substantial savings. Because extras cover is less regulated than hospital cover, health funds use it as a way to differentiate themselves, so there's a lot of variety. That's generally a good thing as it means there's probably a product that fits you really well, but if you choose the wrong product you could be stuck paying too much for treatments you'll never use.

For example: Most mid-tier policies have some level of cover for optical. If you wear glasses, this is great! But if you're blessed with perfect eyesight, you'll be paying a higher premium for a treatment you never use. Instead, look for extras cover that doesn't cover optical - you'll get better value as a result.

Key features to look for when comparing extras cover

Because extras policies are so varied, understanding a few of the following concepts will make it a lot easier to compare extras policies.

• Annual benefit limits: For each treatment, you'll only be able to claim a certain amount each year. For example, you might have a $500 benefit limit for dental and a $250 limit for optical. The higher your benefit limit, the higher your premiums will likely be.
• Combined Limits: Some of your benefit limits might be combined across several treatments. For example, physio and chiro often share an annual benefit limit. That means claiming on one will reduce how much you can claim on the other.
• Sub-limits: Some treatments with combined limits will have an additional sub-limit. For example, you might have a $400 combined limit for nutrition, healthy lifestyle programs, and psychology, but nutrition could have a sub-limit of $200.
• Lifetime benefit limits: A few treatment types have lifetime benefit limits. The most common treatment for this is orthodontics and braces, because you hopefully only need this once in your life. For example, you might have a lifetime limit of $1,500 for orthodontics.
• Waiting periods: Every extras treatment category comes with a waiting period - you won't be able to make a claim until you hold your cover for this period of time. For example, you will likely have a 2 month wait for optical, or 12 months for major dental.
• Flexible policies: These policies often allow you to customise your cover by choosing specific services or adjusting benefit levels, rather than having a fixed bundle of treatments the health fund has pre-selected.
• Provider networks: Some funds have agreements with specific dentists, optometrists, etc. Using these 'network' or 'preferred' providers can mean you pay less out-of-pocket. Check if your preferred providers are in-network with funds you're considering.

How much does extras cover cost?

Extras policies start from less than $2 a week, but can go all the way up to $30 to $40 a week. It all depends on how much coverage you decide to take out.

The average monthly premium paid by Aussie families in May was $102. This is according to the Finder Consumer Sentiment Tracker, which tracks this number monthly by asking a representative sample of around 1,000 Australians each month.

The two main factors that impact the price of your extras cover are:

• The total benefit limit available. Generally, policies that offer higher potential benefits (i.e., allow you to claim larger amounts) will have higher premiums as they represent a greater potential cost to the insurer.
• The number of treatments your policy covers. Cover for a larger number of treatments will generally be a more expensive policy. There are some exceptions to this, especially policies that have a lot of combined limits, which can result in many treatments being listed as covered, but with a less generous overall total benefit.

A small technical note - while the Lifetime Health Cover loading (LHC) applies to hospital cover premiums, it does not directly apply to the cost of standalone extras cover. It's also worth noting that an extras policy will not exempt you from the LHC (if you don't have hospital cover by a certain age) or the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) - you'll need a hospital policy for that.

Cheap extras health insurance

Cheap extras cover definitely exists, from just a couple of bucks a week in fact. These generally cover just 1 or 2 treatments, often emergency ambulance, dental, or optical.

Here are the key things to keep in mind if you want a cheap extras health insurance policy:

• Only cover what you'll claim. If you have perfect eyesight, optical isn't very useful to you. Similarly, if you're young and fit, you may not need a benefit for glucose monitors or hearing aids.
• Opt for reasonable benefit limits. A $2,000 benefit for general dental is nice to have. But if you're only going to claim $500, you might be overpaying. Of course, you'll be paying for peace of mind that you won't have a surprise dental bill - that's a trade-off worth considering.
• Try a flexible policy. Flexible policies, like those from HBF, Bupa and ahm, allow you to be really granular in what is and isn't covered by your policy. The more specific you can get with your cover, the less unnecessary cover you'll be paying for.

How many Australians have extras health insurance?

Currently, around 55% of Australians have an extras policy. That's one of the highest rates of cover we've seen in recent years, and it's slowly growing. Coverage numbers were dropping before the pandemic, but since 2020 the number of people taking out and keeping their policy began growing again.

Extras health insurance prices stayed quite stable during and just after the pandemic. Health insurance funds were spending less on treatment, so they were able to pass savings on by limiting price increases. However, since 2023, price rises have outpaced inflation each year.

Extras cover continues to be the most dynamic sector of the health insurance industry in Australia. With less regulation compared to hospital cover, providers are free to experiment with more flexible policies and new treatment categories.

How to compare extras cover

So with the hundreds of options out there, how do you actually compare extras cover? Your first step is the quiz at the top of this page. One of the questions in the quiz is about what services you need covered - things like dental, optical, physiotherapy, that sort of thing.

On that screen, check everything you need, but nothing you don't. This will filter your results to just the policies that cover stuff that's useful and relevant to you.

From there, you just need to figure out how much you want covered, and how much you want to pay. The Finder Score will help - a higher score out of 10 means a policy offers better value for money than others. But only you know your budget and how much you want in the way of benefit limits.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is extras cover in health insurance?

  Extras cover is a type of health insurance that covers treatment that happens outside of a hospital. It can include dental work, glasses and optical, physiotherapy, psychology and counseling and a lot more. Extras health insurance is one of two primary types of health insurance in Australia, the other one being hospital insurance.

• Is extras cover worth it?

  Not everyone needs extras cover, but extras health insurance is probably worth it for most people at some point in their lives. Even if all you do is go to the dentist a couple of times a year, an extras policy may be able to pay for itself, so long as you actually claim your benefits. As a bonus, most extras cover comes with emergency ambulance coverage as well - this is absolutely worth it, because ambulances are not covered by Medicare.

• Can I claim immediately after switching extras cover?

  If you're switching to a new extras policy, you should be able to get your new health fund to honour your already served waiting periods, under a few conditions. First, the level of cover on your new policy will need to be the same or less than the old policy. You'll also need to confirm with your new provider that they will do it, because while this is required by law for hospital policies, it's not required for extras. That said, most health funds will move you across with no repeat waiting periods, because they want your business!

• How do I choose the best extras cover?

  The best extras cover for you will be different from the best cover for someone else, so you will need to put a little time into comparing your options. This means filtering the available policies based on your health needs, setting a budget, then picking the best option out of what's available. Luckily, the comparison tool on this page will walk you through that process in minutes!

• What's included in extras cover health insurance?

  Extras health cover is health insurance that covers out-of-hospital treatments not covered by Medicare like dental, optical, physiotherapy, massage, acupuncture and psychology. However, extras can cover much more than that - health funds offer a really wide range of products. So to find the best extras cover for you and your family you'll need to compare extras policies from across the whole market.

• Is extras health insurance tax deductible?

  No, extras health insurance is not tax deductible. In fact, health insurance is never tax deductible in Australia. While there are some big tax benefits from hospital health insurance, namely avoiding the MLS, extras health insurance won't help you - you need a hospital policy.

Written by

Tim Bennett

Insurance expert

A seasoned journalist with over 10 years of experience in news, politics and finance reporting, Tim has previously held roles at the ABC, SBS and Fairfax Media. Tim’s expert insights have been quoted in The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail and more. He regularly appears on TV and radio, and has been interviewed on 7 News, Sunrise, SBS News, ABC Local, 3AW and 5AA. Tim is passionate about simplifying complex insurance topics for Australian consumers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Politics) from Macquarie University and a Tier 1 General Insurance (General Advice) certification, which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). If you’re interested in a media interview with Tim, please reach out to our PR team at aupr@finder.com. See full bio

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Tim has written 155 Finder guides across topics including:

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