Health Insurance Premium FAQs

Not at all. Our decision to raise premiums from 1 April 2021 reflects the rising cost of healthcare services. It will enable HBF to continue to cover the cost of claims and services for our members and make ongoing investments to assist HBF to provide greater value to members both now and into the future.

HBF has delivered some of the lowest premium increases of the major health funds over the past 10 years.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw hospital and ancillary services postponed for only a short period of time. HBF introduced temporary benefits for certain Extras services delivered by telehealth, and these benefits have been extended until 30 June 2021. Allied health services have returned to normal and all of the government’s temporary restrictions on elective surgery have been lifted.

It is also important to remember that the cost of your health insurance never goes up when you make a claim. This is because health insurance works differently to other types of insurance. For example, with car or home insurance, premiums typically go up depending on how likely you are to claim.

HBF will be increasing premiums on 1 April 2021.

Every policy owner will be sent a communication in February 2021 to advise them of their new premium. This will come into effect on 1 April 2021. You can view your current premium in myHBF; this will be updated with your new premium on 1 April 2021.

HBF is working to ensure we are still supporting our members through this uncertain time. For a full list of initiatives, which have been extended until 30 June 2021, please visit our COVID-19 member hub.

To calculate a premium, we use claims and service cost data from previous years to estimate the amount we’ll need to spend in the coming year. Premiums are then adjusted for each type of cover in each state, so we can safely cover those predicted costs.

Premium increases aren’t calculated at an individual member level. Your premium change just depends on the kind of cover you have and the State you live in. Community rating applies to private health insurance, it means everyone with the same cover will have the same premium change.

Your final premium amount each year will be a combination of the cover's premium change, any discounts that you have (like a direct debit or corporate discount), your Lifetime Health Cover loading, and, if applicable your Australian Government Rebate on Private Health Insurance.

Calculation of premium increases is subject to external scrutiny. To obtain a premium increase an application must be submitted to the Australian Government Minister for Health. The Department of Health and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the independent health insurance financial regulator, assess all applications to increase premiums before these are passed to the Minister of Health to consider. A health fund needs to provide sufficient information to demonstrate to the Minister of Health that the increase is necessary. If an increase is regarded as contrary to the public interest it will not be approved.