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How-to guides
Check out our simple how-to guides to assist you in managing your HBF cover online, anytime.
A pacemaker is a small electronic device that’s placed under the skin on your chest, most frequently to treat an irregular heartbeat.
A permanent pacemaker may be recommended if you have:
A temporary pacemaker may be recommended while your heart recovers from a heart attack, heart surgery or drug overdose.
This is a heart procedure, which is associated with serious heart health issues like irregular heart rhythms and heart attacks.
If you experience sudden chest pain, go to your nearest emergency department or call triple zero (000) immediately and ask for an ambulance.
Pacemaker surgery is performed in hospital and usually takes 30-60 minutes.
You should be able to go home the same or the next day.
Related: The COACH ProgramTake control of your health with our six-month telephone support program designed for chronic health conditions. Eligible HBF members get access at no cost. Explore the program
It’s important to understand how getting your procedure in a public or private hospital differs.
The comparisons below are for planned procedures only, and exclude emergency surgery performed in conjunction with an emergency department admission.
In a public hospital, pacemaker surgery is covered by Medicare for eligible residents.
Once you are discharged from hospital, you may still need to pay out-of-pocket for things like medicines and physiotherapy.
In a private hospital, private health insurance can cover some costs of pacemaker surgery.
You may have an out-of-pocket cost if you use private hospital cover when you get treatment. You can minimise some of these costs by choosing a hospital and specialist that have agreements with your health insurer.
If you have an excess on your cover, you will have to pay for that out of pocket.
Hospital excess is the amount of money you contribute upfront (out of your own pocket) before you can claim a benefit on hospital treatment.
With HBF hospital cover, you choose a set excess amount when you first get hospital cover.
With HBF, you only pay hospital excess once per person, per calendar year (to a maximum of twice on a family policy) when you’re admitted to hospital.
Are you an HBF member? You can check your excess in myHBF or the HBF App. This is the set amount you’ll pay when you’re admitted.
A hospital out-of-pocket cost is the portion of a hospital bill that you pay from your own pocket for which you won’t be reimbursed – by either health insurance or Medicare.
If you want private health insurance cover for pacemaker surgery, look for HBF hospital cover (not extras cover) that includes a category called ‘Heart and vascular system’.
You need to hold hospital cover that includes Heart and vascular system for two months before you can claim for pacemaker surgery (or 12 months if you need pacemaker surgery due to a pre-existing condition such as coronary heart disease).
Find hospital cover for pacemaker surgery
Your GP is the one who’ll most likely refer you to a specialist – but they may not recommend the specialist you’d want to perform your surgery. Asking for an open referral can let you:
To find cardiologists who work with HBF, just search for ‘cardiologist’ in our find a provider tool.
Find a cardiologist
If you’ve already got a specialist, ask them these questions:
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