9 tips to save on health insurance

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1. Compare health insurance policies

2. Review your health cover

3. Adjust your excess

4. Understand government rebates and incentives

5. Check member discounts and perks

6. Avoid out-of-pocket costs

7. Pay your premium in advance

8. Split your health cover or combine it

9. Suspend your health insurance when you go overseas

If I can’t pay my health insurance premiums, is there an alternative to cancelling my cover?

Where can I find and compare health insurance?

Long story short

Compare your health insurance cover with other policies

Review what your current policy offers against what you’d like to get out of your health cover, then use a service like iSelect to quickly compare options.

Choose a policy wisely, including checking for no-gap options and member perks

Get the most out of your premiums by taking full advantage of your health insurance, including any zero out-of-pocket cost options and reward programs.

Get on top of your premiums with government initiatives and savvy saving moves

Check your eligibility for the private health insurance rebate and age-based discount. Then look at locking in your premium ahead of 1 April premium increases.

From comparing and tweaking your options to making the most of government initiatives and health fund discounts and perks, there are lots of things you can try to save on your health insurance premium without saying goodbye to your cover. Many of these tips can quickly be put into action, so you can also save some time!

1. Compare health insurance policies

Comparing health insurance policies helps you catch deals and stay aware of current health insurance pricing. To save time, you can use a comparison service like iSelect, rather than visiting multiple heath fund websites. Sticking with the same policy for years might be convenient, but it can mean you end up paying more than you need to for your health cover.

2. Review your health cover

Life changes faster than many of us expect, which is why it’s a good idea to review health cover regularly. In 2025, this showed up in iSelect’s data, with one of the leading reasons that people compared family health insurance being the need for better cover.¹Note: This data point is based on all iSelect website users who completed a health insurance comparison search for family policies in 2025 and uses internal iSelect data. Based on data from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. Reviewing regularly means you can check if your health insurance is still a good fit and, if not, you can find more suitable health insurance.

You might find that you want a higher level of hospital cover or extras with bigger annual limits as you get older. Alternatively, if you have children, you might want to regularly review your cover to keep up with everybody’s health needs.

3. Adjust your excess

Opting for a higher excess, like the maximum $750 per person, on your hospital insurance can reduce your premium.

Keep in mind that if you’re admitted to hospital as a private patient, you’ll need to pay this excess before you can make a claim with your health insurance. So, it’s best to pick a dollar amount you could comfortably pay if needed.

4. Understand government rebates and incentives

The Australian Government encourages peoples to take out private health insurance with initiatives like the private health insurance rebate and age-based discounts – together, they could help you save up to 31% on your singles hospital cover premiums.²Note: Figure calculated by applying 10% age-based discount to a premium, followed by a 24% private health insurance rebate to the reduced premium. The Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading, though, can increase your hospital premium while the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) can increase your payable tax.

The full list of measures includes:

• Private health insurance rebate: If you earn under a certain amount, the government will cover up to 32% of your health insurance premiums (this applies to both hospital and extras) when you pay your provider or as a rebate at tax time.
• Age-based discounts: If you take out hospital insurance before you turn 30, you could get a discount of up to 10% off your premiums.
• Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading: If you don’t have hospital insurance by 1 July after your 31st birthday, a loading, starting at 2%, is added to your premiums if you later get hospital cover.
• Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS): If your taxable income is above the threshold and you don’t have appropriate hospital cover, you can end up paying a further 1–1.5% in tax.

Helpful tip

Tax was the third most common reason customers chose to compare health insurance policies with iSelect in 2025.³Note: This data point is based on all iSelect website users who completed a health insurance comparison search in 2025 and uses internal iSelect data. Based on data from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025.

But to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS), you don’t need to get expensive hospital cover. All it takes is a basic tier hospital policy with an excess of no more than $750 for singles and $1,500 for couples and families.

However, you might get better value for money by taking the time to find a policy that suits your health and wellbeing needs, like helping to cover future medically necessary elective surgeries, as well as your tax concerns.

Andres Gutierrez

General Manager – Health

5. Check member discounts and perks

Health funds often have discounts for their members, including discounts on their premiums, goods and services from partners, and sometimes even both. Taking advantage of these deals can help you save on your premium and everyday essentials (or luxuries).

Some health funds give members discounts for paying their health insurance via direct debit. This can help you trim your health insurance premium, while also being super convenient. With direct debit, your premium amount is automatically deducted from your bank account (assuming sufficient funds are available), and you don’t need to worry about forgetting to pay and losing your cover.

Many health insurers also offer member perks such as discounts on goods and services from partners. Taking advantage of these can help you get more out of your health insurance and even save you some money. For instance, you could earn reward program points from shopping at select retailers that can be converted points into gift cards or put towards your private health cover premiums.

Similarly, your health fund membership could mean you’re eligible for discounts on select telehealth services, making everyday health care a little more affordable (and convenient).

6. Avoid out-of-pocket costs

Get the most out of your premiums by using hospitals with no gap agreements and no-gap providers for your extras cover, where possible. A ‘gap’ is the out-of-pocket expense to you when your health insurance doesn’t cover the full cost of a service or treatment. No-gap services, therefore, mean no out-of-pocket costs.

When comparing policies, take the time to look at any no-gap agreements health funds might have. This includes checking for any partnered hospitals or no-gap providers near you, like dentists and physio clinics, and ensuring your policy includes no-gap cover.

7. Pay your premium in advance

Health insurance premiums rise each year on 1 April, but you can ‘lock in’ your older, lower premium for the next 12 months by paying your annual premium upfront. Some health funds even let you pay as far as 18 months in advance. This way, you can skip the rate rise (for a little while, at least).

8. Split your health cover or combine it

Splitting your private hospital cover and extras cover between health insurers could work out cheaper, as you aren’t limited in choosing both policies from the same insurer.

Opting to have separate health insurance to your partner or family can also help reduce your overall health insurance premiums. For instance, of those iSelect customers who said they were comparing health insurance in 2025 because they wanted to have kids, the majority were comparing singles policies, rather than couples or family cover.⁴Note: This data point is based on all iSelect website users who completed a health insurance comparison search in 2025 and cited ‘starting a family’ as their reason for comparing, and uses internal iSelect data. Based on data from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. There could be a few reasons why this was the case, including keeping overall health insurance costs low.

Only the person looking to fall pregnant would need pregnancy and obstetrics cover. Since this cover tends to be on the higher end, like silver plus and gold tier hospital policies, it can be more expensive with a level of cover greater than many Aussies need. So, having separate hospital policies, like gold tier for you and bronze for your partner, is likely to be cheaper and better value for money than sharing a gold policy.

On the flipside, sharing cover can be a workaround to lower your Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading, as shared policies use an average – and therefore lower – loading. For example, if you have a loading of 2% but your partner’s is 6%, it works out as 4% overall.

9. Suspend your health insurance when you go overseas

If you’re heading overseas for a while, your health insurer might let you suspend your health cover, pausing your premiums. Suspending your health insurance means you don’t need to cancel it and risk needing to restart or re-serve waiting periods, and/or affect your LHC loading.

However, each fund can have their own rules about when you can suspend your cover and for how long, as well as if there are any conditions to follow once you resume your cover.

FYI, if you’re sick or injured overseas, it’s travel insurance you’ll need to help pay your doctor’s bills. Your Australian health insurance only works in Australia.

If I can’t pay my health insurance premiums, is there an alternative to cancelling my cover?

If you’re dealing with financial hardship, like losing your job, your health insurer might let you suspend or pause your health cover. Just remember that you won’t be able to use your health insurance while it’s suspended. You can still use Medicare and public hospital services, though.

Your health fund might have eligibility requirements to suspend your health insurance for financial hardship reasons, like having had your policy for at least 12 months.

If you aren’t comfortable being without cover, you can try to reduce your health insurance costs by reviewing your policy and adjusting it as necessary, like reducing your level of cover or increasing your excess. We recommend comparing your health insurance options so you have a clear idea of what’s available and how different changes can affect premiums. Knowing this can help you decide whether you need to adjust your existing policy or try another.

You can also speak with your health insurer about your issues; some have other processes to help their members keep their cover through financial hardship, including setting up payment plans, paying your premiums for you for a time, and helping you find financial support services. Speak with your health fund to learn how they can help at this difficult time.

Where can I find and compare health insurance?

Comparing health insurance is a great first step to seeing if you can get a lower health insurance premium – and iSelect is here to make it easy. With us, you can quickly compare a range of health insurance policies from different providers. All you need to do is call one of our health insurance comparison experts on 1800 784 772 or use our online comparison tool.