nib Health Insurance

What makes nib different?

As part of their mission to see people enjoy better health³, nib offers various discounts, rewards and member-only benefits. These include: 

• Travel insurance discounts: nib members may be eligible for 10% off nib travel insurance plans⁴.
• Discounts for direct debit: People who pay their health cover with a direct debit get a 4% discount⁵.
• nib MediGap: nib’s Medigap network might help you eliminate out of pocket expenses. Specialists who participate in MediGap have agreed not to charge nib members gap payments for any impatient services⁶.
• Rewards programs: Members can make purchases through the nib rewards program and potentially save money on groceries, retail shopping and up to 30% off on natural therapies, fitness and pilates⁷.
• Targeted health programs: Eligible members can take advantage of many specialised services, such as home chemotherapy for cancer sufferers, home rehabilitation for those with muscle, joint and bone conditions, a specialised diabetes management program and more⁸.

nib also offer a variety of health insurance policies to ensure that, whatever your needs, you should be able to find a suitable policy within their range. Plans are easy to understand and easy to claim on, and the company prides itself on product innovation, value for money and top-notch customer service. 

What kinds of cover does nib offer?

NIB health insurance offer hospital and extras packages which you can choose from to ‘build your own’ format. While they do provide suggestions on what may work for you depending on your lifestyle, the choice is ultimately in your hands when it comes to starting your quote.

To start, there are five types of hospital cover available through iSelect⁹: 

• Basic Essential Hospital Plus: Cover for the basics, including emergency ambulance, and accidental injury. 
• Bronze Hospital¹⁰: More than just the basics including common services such as bone, joint and muscle, diabetes management and ear, nose and throat. 
• Bronze Hospital Plus: Similar to Bronze Hospital, this will cover you for common procedures, but also other procedures not covered in a standalone Bronze policy such as podiatric surgery. 
• Silver Hospital: More than just bronze level cover, with treatments for heart-related problems and a range of other conditions. 
• Silver Advantage Hospital Plus: An even higher level of hospital cover, only excluding pregnancy and a few other procedures.

You can also choose between an excess amount of $250, $500 or $750—although your options may vary between policies.¹¹ A full range of nib hospital cover options are listed on the nib website. 

Next are some of the key types of extras cover on offer¹². These include: 

• Core Extras: Cover for the essentials, including optical, dental and physiotherapy, with 60% back on each visit (up to your annual limit). 
• Core Extras Boost: Just like core extras, but with higher annual limits. 
• Core and Wellbeing Extras: Additional services, such as remedial massage and chiropractic on top of Core Extras. 
• Top Extras: An extensive range of services with higher annual limits, and 75% back on each visit, up to your annual limit.  

Contact iSelect for an extensive list of nib Extras packages*.   

As with most health insurance providers, nib gives you the option to get either standalone hospital cover or an extras package. Or, if you prefer, you can build a plan that combines both Hospital and Extras cover. 

Which private hospitals does nib Health Insurance have an agreement with?

As with all private health insurance providers, receiving the full benefit from your hospital cover with nib health insurance depends on whether you’ve gone to one of the private hospitals that have an agreement with them. 

Fortunately, nib health insurance has agreements with most private hospital across Australia so regardless of where you live, its likely you’ll be able to find a hospital close to home.¹³ 

Making a claim with nib Health Insurance

nib strives to make it as easy as possible to claim on your nib health cover by providing a number of different claiming methods. Once you’ve received medical treatment or made an eligible purchase, you can make a nib claim in a number of different ways¹⁴. 

At the counter you may be able to swipe your nib membership card. 20,000 Australian specialist providers provide HICAPS (Health Industry Claims and Payment Service) which allows this type of claim. 

You can claim on the go with nib’s smartphone app. Once you’ve downloaded the app, make sure you’re connected to mobile data or WIFI, then take a photo of your receipt and submit the claim, payment will be made to your bank account within five working days. It’s available on iPhone and Android. 

Online, you can log into nib online services, fill in details from your receipt, enter your bank details, and receive a transfer of your benefit from nib into your bank account. Ring nib and ask customer service to process a claim, or visit a nib retail centre to make a claim in person. 

Finally, if you’d like to claim by post, fill out a claim form, attach your specialist provider’s invoice and post it to nib. nib will fulfil the claim by bank transfer or cheque. When your claim is the result of a hospital visit, the hospital will usually send the bill to nib for you. 

Making payments to nib Health Insurance

nib is extremely flexible when it comes to making payments. You can pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually¹⁵. These payments can be made via direct debit when you sign up through iSelect.

How to become a member

Get nib health cover with iSelect’s secure and simple online application or call 1800 784 772 and one of our consultants will help with your application. 

Make sure you compare policies with us to see if we can help find the cover that’s right for your needs*. 

All nib cover information can be found on the nib website. 

^{Sources:
1 nib - Media Centre: nib, a first-mover in flexible work, finds it is here to stay 
2 nib Health Funds - Media Release, 24 February 2006, NIB contribution rate change (Page 2) 
3 nib - Careers 
4 nib - Member benefits 
5 As above. 
6 nib - Medical specialists 
7 nib - Member Rewards 
8 nib - Health Management Programs 
9 nib - Hospital Cover | Private hospital cover to suit any budget (Page 1) 
10 nib - Your Hospital Cover, Bronze Hospital 
11 nib - Hospital Cover | Private hospital cover to suit any budget (Page 1) 
12 nib - Extras Cover 
13 nib - nib Agreement Hospitals  
14 nib - How to make a claim 
15 nib - How can I pay my premiums?}