FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION

What is the Lifetime Health Cover Loading?

The Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading is an extra cost applied to the price of hospital insurance for anyone who chooses to take out hospital cover later in life. The loading was designed by the Australian Government to encourage people to take out insurance earlier in life and maintain their cover.

The loading only applies if you choose to take out hospital insurance after your 31st birthday. Basically, for every year that you don’t have hospital insurance following your 31st birthday, an additional 2% loading will apply if you take out hospital cover later down the track (capped at 70%). For example, if you choose to take out hospital cover at 36 years old, a 10% loading will be applied to your hospital insurance premiums. The loading will only be removed once you’ve held hospital insurance for 10 continuous years.

To avoid LHC, you just need to take out hospital cover on or before 1 July following your 31st birthday.

Learn more about the Lifetime Health Cover loading.