Compare Silver Hospital Cover

Silver cover can help address some of Australia’s most common health problems by including cover for many chronic and long-term conditions, such as back problems, asthma, and deafness or hearing loss. This can include offering diagnosis, management and treatment options.

For instance, looking at a selection of chronic conditions, it’s estimated that 15.7% of Australians had back problems, 10.8% had asthma and 9.6% had deafness or hearing loss in 2022, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.²Australian Institute of Health and Welfare – Chronic conditions Silver cover helps to address these common health problems with cover for relevant clinical categories (specifically back, neck and spine, lung and chest, and implantation of hearing devices). This could help Australians manage these conditions and minimise the disruption the conditions cause to their quality of life.

Silver cover doesn’t include 9 clinical categories only found under gold cover, such as cataracts and joint replacements, but you might be able to find some of them on silver plus policies. Additionally, 3 clinical categories are restricted services on silver cover, like palliative care.

The 9 clinical categories excluded from silver hospital insurance are:

• cataracts
• joint replacements
• dialysis for chronic kidney failure
• pregnancy and birth
• assisted reproductive services
• weight loss surgery
• insulin pumps
• pain management devices
• sleep studies.

You might be able to find some of these categories covered on a silver plus policy.

Silver cover can only offer restricted cover on the following 3 clinical categories:

• rehabilitation
• hospital psychiatric services
• palliative care.

For unrestricted cover for all 38 clinical categories without limited benefits, you’ll need a gold hospital insurance policy.

Additionally, like all hospital cover, silver hospital policies do not include cover for out-of-hospital services, like dental check-ups and mental health appointments, like counselling. This kind of care can be found on extras policies, rather than hospital cover.

A silver plus policy has everything you’ll find in a standard silver plan – plus some additional clinical categories, such as cataracts or joint replacements. Think of it as a step between the silver and gold tiers.

It’s up to health insurers’ discretion to offer silver plus cover and they can choose what extra categories they include. For example, some insurers offer silver plus policies tailored for older customers that include joint replacements, while some offer silver plus policies aimed at younger couples that cover pregnancy.

This means it can get a bit tricky comparing plus policies as they aren’t completely standardised like regular tier cover. You might be interested in silver plus cover if you’re happy with silver cover but just want a little taste of gold, too, like a particular extra category, such as joint replacements or cataracts.

Yes, like all hospital policies, silver cover comes with waiting periods ranging from a maximum wait of 2 months to 12 months depending on the circumstances. Waiting periods are the time you need to hold your policy before you can make a claim. They can vary between policies, insurers and conditions.

The Australian Government mandates that the maximum waiting periods for private hospital cover are:

• 12 months for pre-existing conditions: If you’ve had signs or symptoms in the 6 months before joining or upgrading your cover, your waiting period can be up to a year for that pre-existing condition.
• 12 months for pregnancy and obstetrics: This means you’ll need to take any pregnancy cover out well before you intend to become pregnant.
• 2 months for psychiatric, rehabilitation and palliative care: This includes pre-existing conditions.
• 2 months in all other circumstances.

If you switch insurers or policies without a break in your, you’re in the clear for waiting periods you’ve already completed, as long as you’re switching to the same or a lower level of coverage. But for new or upgraded items, you’ll need to serve any relevant waiting periods.