Frank Health Insurance: is it right for you?

Are you considering getting private health cover? Many Australians take out private health insurance to gain greater control over their health and wellbeing. Private health insurance gives you the freedom to choose where you’re treated, when and by whom. It also helps to reduce the financial burden of unexpected medical bills for treatments like dental care, surgery, physiotherapy, chronic illness care and much more.

Frank Health Insurance is an Australian fund that offers a range of affordable health policies for singles, couples, families and everyone in between. Discover everything you need to know about Frank Health Insurance and whether it’s a good fit for you.

What is Frank Health Insurance?

Frank Health Insurance is a not-for-profit health fund that provides affordable hospital and extras cover for singles, couples, single parents and families. It launched in 2009 but has over 80 years of private health insurance experience from its parent company, GMHBA. Based in Geelong, Frank Australia provides health cover to over 35,000 Australians.

What makes Frank Health Insurance different?

Frank Health Insurance has no physical branches. Instead, everything can be managed online, which reduces paperwork and gives customers more control over their health care. Frank encourages customers to manage all of their health insurance admin on their website – from updating their details to making claims. It offers email support, Frank Health online chat and phone support from 8am to 6pm (AEST) from Monday to Friday each week.

As a not-for-profit Frank Health Insurance has no shareholders, which means that customer benefits are prioritised over profit. This allows Frank to offer more affordable premiums¹ and better benefits.

Finally, Frank Health Insurance offers more choice over which healthcare providers you can use. Many funds have a list of approved dentists, physiotherapists, doctors and other providers. Instead of having a list of Frank Health Insurance providers, they let you choose your own² – as long as they are registered in the field.

What type of cover does Frank Health Insurance offer?

When it comes to their health policies, Frank Health Insurance offer a mix of affordable cover options. They offer hospital cover, extras cover and a combination of both… called a bundle policy.

Hospital cover includes some (or all) of your hospital fees such as doctor’s fees, hospital accommodation and nursing care. Frank hospital cover includes ‘basic hospital’, which is their most affordable cover, ‘better hospital’, which is their mid-range policy and ‘best hospital’, which is their most comprehensive policy. ‘Best hospital’ cover offers the works including everything from³ accidents to pregnancy, colonoscopies, heart surgeries, weight loss surgery, rehabilitation, psychiatrist care and much more.

Extras cover is general or non-hospital treatment that includes dental, optical, physiotherapy, pharmacy, ambulance cover and more. Frank’s extras cover is split into two easy to understand categories: ‘some’ and ‘lots’. Depending on which policy you choose, you can claim between 50% or 80% back on your healthcare services. Frank has a range of waiting periods for the extras covers – the longest being for major dental, orthotics and podiatry surgery – which all require a waiting period of 12 months⁴.

The combination policies on offer are a mix of both hospital cover and extras. You can choose from the ‘Starter’ bundle or a more comprehensive policy called the ‘Essentials’ bundle.

How do you make a claim with Frank Health Insurance?

Making a claim with Frank is simple. You can use your Frank member card at one of 20,000 health providers that offer HICAPS swipe technology, and Frank will cover all or part of your bill on the spot – depending on your policy. You can also claim online via the Frank Health Insurance login for members and get your money back in 1-2 business days. Frank encourages members to manage all of their health insurance admin online rather than using a Frank Health Insurance claim form, in order to minimise paperwork.

How do you make payments?

Frank allows you to choose from one of two options. The first way to pay is through direct debit from your nominated bank account. The second way you can pay for Frank is through your MasterCard or Visa credit card. You can make your payments monthly, or you can pay for a year upfront.

How do you become a Frank Health Insurance member?

Interested in joining Frank? We’ve made it easy for you. Make sure to have your Medicare card on hand and simply log on to our secure online website to compare health insurance plans or call 13 19 20 and one of our consultants will help you apply.

We don’t compare all health insurance providers or policies in the market. The availability of policies will change from time to time. Not all policies available from our partners are compared by iSelect and due to commercial arrangements, your stated needs and circumstances, not all policies compared by iSelect will be available to all customers. Some policies are available only from our call centre and others are available only from our website. Click here to view our range of providers.

All plan information is provided by Frank.

1- https://www.frankhealthinsurance.com.au/about
2- https://www.frankhealthinsurance.com.au/about
3- https://www.frankhealthinsurance.com.au/products
4- https://www.frankhealthinsurance.com.au/products