Lifetime Health Cover Loading Calculator

Back to top

What is Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading?

When does LHC loading kick in?

How much could Lifetime Health Cover loading be for me?

How can I avoid paying LHC loading?

Can I avoid paying LHC loading if I only get extras coverage?

Will I pay LHC loading if I suspend my health insurance?

What else affects my health insurance premiums?

How can I calculate my Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading?

Long story short

LHC loading is an additional percentage added to your hospital cover premium

It’s one of a few ways the government encourages Aussies to have private health insurance.

You might have to pay LHC loading if you didn’t have hospital health insurance on your LHC base day

Your base day is either 1 July 2000 or 1 July after your 31st birthday, whichever is later.

You can use a Lifetime Health Cover calculator to figure out your loading

Or you could ask an iSelect health comparison expert when they help you compare health insurance.

What is Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading?

Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading is an Australian Government initiative to encourage Australians, including younger folk, to take out private hospital insurance and keep it. And what’s that encouragement? If you take too long to get hospital cover, an additional percentage will be added to your hospital health insurance premiums. (We’d rather a gift card, honestly.) 

You’re still allowed to rely on Medicare and use the public health system. But if you want to avoid LHC loading, you need to keep that private hospital cover, too.

When does LHC loading kick in?

That’d be your LHC base day. 

For those who turned 31 before 1 July 2000, congratulations, you all share an LHC base day of 1 July 2000. 

For everyone else, your LHC base day is 1 July after you turn 31. So, if you celebrated your 31st on 15 September 2022, your LHC base day would be 1 July 2023.

And if you miss your LHC base day and end up with LHC loading? Then you need to keep your hospital cover for 10 continuous years to shake it off. (You can still switch health insurance policies in this time, though.)

How much could Lifetime Health Cover loading be for me?

Your LHC loading is tied to your age, specifically every year you’re over 30 before taking out health insurance.

Each year, 2% is added to your loading. While LHC loading eventually maxes out, that doesn’t happen until you hit 70% (that’s 35 years without cover).

Imagine that this year you turned 35 years old and decided it was time to get serious about your health and take out health insurance for the first time. This would net you an 8% loading on your hospital cover premiums.

How can I avoid paying LHC loading?

Just take out hospital cover before your LHC base day and then keep it active.

FYI, there is some leeway in that consistent cover requirement. You’re allowed a total 1,094 days without cover (known as days of absence) to cover gaps between holding a policy in the course of your lifetime. After all, life happens. Sometimes cover lapses or you switch policies and have a few days in between without cover.

Similarly, your LHC base day might not be so cut and dry if you’re a new migrant to Australia or were overseas on 1 July following your 31st birthday. Full-time serving members of the Australian Defence Force and those with a Veteran Gold Card also have some altered LHC loading rules.

Alternatively, you could invent a time machine and manipulate reality until your birthday is on or before 1 July 1934.

Helpful tip

While the permitted days of absence from having health cover are pretty generous, it’s not necessarily a great idea to leave a big gap.

If it’s been a while since you were last covered by a policy, you might need to re-serve any waiting periods when you take out fresh cover. Until those waiting periods are satisfied, you won’t be able to claim on your health insurance.

Andres Gutierrez

General Manager – Health

Can I avoid paying LHC loading if I only get extras coverage?

Extras health insurance isn’t enough to keep LHC loading off your back. Hospital cover is all that matters for LHC loading. Your LHC loading applies just to your hospital insurance premiums, not your extras premiums.

Will I pay LHC loading if I suspend my health insurance?

If your health fund agrees to the suspension, like if you’re finding yourself in Europe for a few months, your LHC loading won’t go up. These days won’t count as days without cover or days of absence.

What else affects my health insurance premiums?

There are a few factors that can drive your health insurance premiums up or trim them back down.

For instance, the government offers a couple of incentives.

The private health insurance rebate is an income-tested reduction on your health insurance premiums. You can have it applied when you’re paying your premiums to your health fund or opt to claim it back on your tax return. Either way, it applies to your hospital and extras cover.

Take out hospital cover before you turn 30 and you can get the age-based discount. This can be as much as 10% off your hospital premiums.

Beyond government initiatives, health insurers offer their own discounts or a free month or two from time to time. 

And, of course, you also have a say in how much your health insurance premiums are, to an extent. Typically, a health insurance policy that covers more people, like a family policy, or more services, like a gold tier hospital policy, is more expensive. So, it’s worthwhile thinking about the kind of healthcare you need, rather than just opting for the most expensive (or cheapest) policy.

How can I calculate my Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading?

Who has time to compare health insurance on their own, let alone break out the calculator to factor in their LHC loading? Kill two birds with one stone by speaking with an iSelect health comparison expert on 1800 784 772 and comparing a range of health insurance options. Or you can use our online comparison tool instead to compare different policies with your estimated LHC loading