How to Lock In Your Health Insurance Premiums Early

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How do I lock in my premium?

When’s the best time to lock in my premium?

What are the benefits of locking in my premium?

Are there any other ways I can save on my premium?

Where can I compare health insurance policies?

Long story short

Every year, health insurance premiums rise

Typically, it happens on 1 April.

If you’re proactive, you can lock in last year’s premium for another 12 months

Your policy needs to be active and your annual premium needs to hit your insurer’s bank account before 1 April.

Locking in your premium is just one way to save on your health insurance

Don’t forget you can try tweaking your health insurance cover and shopping around too!

Here’s the deal: The Australian Government gives its okay for health insurers to bump up health insurance premiums every 1 April (and, unfortunately, it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke). But here’s the hack – if you get in before April, lots of those private health insurance peeps let you pay for a whole year or more up-front at the previous year’s rate!

If you can swing it, think about getting ahead of the game and dropping that full 12-month payment to delay the pain of a price hike down the road.

How do I lock in my premium?

Bagging a sweet deal by locking in your premium is like winning the insurance game, but not every insurer is necessarily in on the secret sauce. Give your health fund a shout to see if you can lock in that lower rate on your policy. Or, you might even want to look at switching health insurers if another policy has been calling your name.

There are a few key dates that you might have already marked on your calendar – your pet’s birthday, your wedding anniversary, the end of the financial year, and tax time. Now here’s another one – the health insurance premium increase is an annual tradition in Australia, dropping on 1 April. To skip the increase for the year, you’ve got to be a step ahead. Drop the whole year’s premium in March, right before the prices take a leap.

To lock in that golden premium:

1. Check with your provider if you can lock in your current premium. Remember, your new premium kicks off on 1 April, but the premium rate change will be announced months before that. So you can take advantage of that window to lock in your current rate, if it’s lower.
2. Pay one year up-front before the 1 April rise. Here’s the important bit: your bank needs to process that annual payment before the big day – and some insurers want it a few days earlier. You’ll also want to take your bank’s processing time into account. 
3. Woohoo – your premium is protected until the following year!

When’s the best time to lock in my premium?

If you want to play it smart and lock in those premiums, don’t wait until the April frenzy. Get on it well before! Early to mid-March is your golden window. Start March off with a friendly chat with your insurer to nail down the exact date. But remember, you can seal the deal up to a few days before the April curtain rises. 

What are the benefits of locking in my premium?

Paying in advance is like doing a slick sidestep – you postpone dealing with those sneaky premium hikes for a whole year. It means snagging a built-in discount of roughly 3 or 4% every year, because that’s around how much the industry average health insurance premium usually increases annually.¹Department of Health and Aged Care – Average annual price changes in private health insurance premiums For 2026, the average increase of 4.41% takes effect on 1 April, and the next increase will take place on 1 April 2027. But keep in mind, 4.41% is an average only. Some individual policies will rise by more than that and others less.   

Are there any other ways I can save on my premium?

If paying for a full year’s worth of premium in advance feels like scaling Mount Everest, don’t worry – you can still keep your private health insurance costs down. There are options you can take to make it a little easier on your budget.

Helpful tip

The last thing you want is to bid goodbye to your private hospital cover especially if you want to hang on to your Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading status, avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS), stay away from long wait times in the public system (or food that’s not so appetising in public hospitals). Not to mention the ridiculous out-of-pocket costs that you might pay for medical procedures as an uninsured patient.

So have a good think and see if your policy still works for you. You can make little tweaks to your excess or extras, or compare options to see if switching feels like a better idea than locking in one year’s worth of premiums early.

Andres Gutierrez

General Manager – Health

Where can I compare health insurance policies?

Dive deeper into the art of locking in your premium with iSelect – your health insurance sidekick! Give us a ring at 1800 784 772, and our squad of health insurance comparison experts will spill the beans on securing that premium like a pro. Or you can use our online comparison tool any time, day or night.

You’ll find a treasure trove of health insurance policies waiting for your scrutiny. You can uncover the details, spot the policy that suits you, and lock in that premium with confidence.