Hospital cover is for when you need treatment in hospital, like elective surgery, and using it means your health insurer helps cover the bill for you to be treated as a private patient. On a singles policy, you can choose the hospital tier that suits you and your health needs, plus avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Health Cover loading.

As a private hospital patient, you choose your doctor, are likely to have a shorter wait for treatment and even have a chance at a private room to recover in. Just be sure to check that your health fund has an agreement with your chosen hospital to help cover your bill.

Extras cover for singles is health insurance for one person for health services generally not covered by Medicare. Common extras are services like dental, optical and physio.

Since it’s just you on the policy, you can choose cover that comes with all the extras you want (and ideally none of those you don’t intend to use). You also won’t share annual limits with anyone, so you can make the most of your claim limits for that 12-month period. For instance, if your optical cover comes with a $500 annual limit, that $500 is all for you to use on claiming optical services, like new glasses and contact lenses.

Combined cover is a health insurance policy that includes both hospital and extras cover. It’s an option available to singles, as well as families and couples. In fact, as of March 2026, the majority of Aussies on singles cover preferred to have both a hospital policy and an extras policy, according to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority. It’s no wonder then that many health insurers offer policies that bundle both hospital and extras cover.

Combined cover gives you broader coverage than hospital or extras alone, so that means it’s usually more expensive. There are also a lot of different coverage options, so it can be a good idea to shop around and weigh your options before taking out a policy.

These kinds of policies can be just plain old more convenient, too, with just the one premium to pay and no need to keep up with two different insurers.

Absolutely, most health funds make it easy to add new members to an existing singles health policy, changing it to couples or family cover.

Keep in mind, though, that if your circumstances change, it could be worthwhile to compare cover options before making the switch. Your health insurance might have been a good fit when it was just you, but you might need different things out of couples or family health insurance.

Remember, too, that new members to health insurance will generally have waiting periods before they can access some treatments. The same goes for if you’re switching to a higher level of cover, even if you’ve had health insurance for a while already. However, if you switch to a similar or lower level of cover with another provider, then you can likely avoid re-serving waiting periods you’ve already served.

If you have pre-existing conditions you’d like covered on health insurance, health insurers can impose waiting periods, like a maximum 12-month waiting period on benefits for hospital treatment.

This rule is in place to make sure that people don’t just take out policies and cancel or downgrade after they receive treatment, which would transfer the costs to long-term members of that policy.

A couples policy is typically twice the amount of a similar singles policy, since what you’re paying for is to have another person covered. It can be more convenient to share cover, but you might not get the right fit, particularly if you’re a couple with different health needs. Instead, you might each benefit from your own singles cover. Depending on how much cover you each need, it could also work out cheaper than shared cover.

If you’re between 18 and 29 years old, some health insurance providers can offer discounts of up to 10% off your hospital premiums, including for singles policies. These discounts can typically stay in place until you turn 41.

Unfortunately, if you’re covered as a dependent on a family or single parent policy, those discounts don’t apply. You can either be covered as a dependent or have your own policy and be eligible for an age-based discount, but not both.

Along with a discount, getting hospital insurance before you turn 30 means you won’t need to worry about Lifetime Health Cover loading increasing your premiums.

To find singles health insurance to suit your life stage, consider your current and near-future health needs, your lifestyle and your budget, then compare policies to see what offers you the best value for money. (iSelect can help you with that.) For instance, if you’re generally in good health, you might only want a basic- or bronze-tier hospital policy and prefer a more comprehensive extras policy with dental, physio, chiro and more to keep you in good shape.

If you’d like some help finding a suitable policy for your needs, you can speak with one of our health insurance comparison experts on 1800 784 772 to compare a range of singles health insurance policies from different providers.

There’s no one best health insurance for singles; instead, it’s all about what works for your needs, lifestyle and budget. For instance, someone who’s always playing sports will likely need different health cover from someone who is planning to start a family.

When comparing policies, it’s worth thinking about your preferred level of hospital cover and extras cover.

And while the dollar figures matter, cheaper policies aren’t necessarily better value. They might save you money up-front, but they could also come with restrictions, exclusions or more out-of-pocket costs down the line.

To find the ‘best’ health insurance for yourself, it’s a good idea to shop around, compare options, and ensure the policy matches your health, needs and lifestyle.