Lifetime health cover
Lifetime Health Cover
Lifetime Health Cover is a Government initiative that started on 1 July 2000. It was designed to encourage people to take out hospital insurance earlier in life, and to maintain their cover.
Lifetime Health Cover is a financial loading (LHC loading) that can be payable in addition to the premium for your private health insurance hospital cover (hospital cover).
If you purchase hospital cover earlier in life, and keep it, you will pay lower premiums compared to someone who joins when they are older.
LHC loadings apply only to hospital cover. They do not apply to private health insurance general treatment cover (also known as ancillary cover or extras).
Lifetime Health Cover is designed to encourage people to purchase hospital cover earlier in life and to maintain their cover. This improves the overall age profile of health insurance members, which contributes to making premiums more affordable for all members Australia-wide.
To avoid paying a LHC loading, you need to purchase hospital cover by 1 July following your 31st birthday.
If you purchase hospital cover after this date you may be required to pay a LHC loading – 2% for each year you are over 30. For instance, if you wait until you are 40, you could be paying an extra 20% on the cost of your hospital cover. If you wait until you are 50, you could pay 40% more. And so on, up to a maximum of 70% more.
If you are a new migrant to Australia, and are aged 31 or over, you will not have to pay a LHC loading if you purchase hospital cover within 12 months of being registered for Medicare.
If you delay purchasing hospital cover for more than 12 months after your registration, you will have to pay 2% more for each year you are aged over 30 when you purchase your hospital cover.
Any LHC loading that you pay for ten (10) continuous years will be removed from your hospital cover premium as long as you retain your hospital cover.
Remember, if you benefit from the removal of your LHC loading and then decide to cancel your hospital cover, you may become liable to pay a LHC loading again in the future.
If you were born on or before 1 July 1934, you are exempt from the LHC loading. You can purchase hospital cover at any time in the future and pay the base rate premium.
There are other provisions which can apply in some circumstances. For more information, see the Lifetime Health Cover Frequently Asked Questions page.
In some cases, calculating your LHC loading can be fairly complicated. The Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) has developed a Lifetime Health Cover Calculator, which will help you to work out your LHC loading based on your answers to a series of questions.
The Lifetime Health Cover Calculator will provide you with information based on legislation which commenced on 1 April 2007. If your current hospital cover commenced on or before 31 March 2007, your LHC loading, if any, is based on the previous legislation.
If you would like to see what private health insurance products are on offer or are simply looking for further information on private health insurance in general, you may wish to visit the Private Health website. The Private Health website will enable you to browse Standard Information Statements (SIS) for each private health insurance product available in Australia, and contains contact details for each private health insurer as well. SIS are Government standardised documents which provide brief summaries of each private health insurance product in Australia including the monthly premium and any applicable benefit limitations.
A list of all registered Australian private health insurers is also available on the Private Health Insurance Administration Council's (PHIAC) website.
If you would like to discuss Lifetime Health Cover with a Departmental Officer, or are in need of general advice about your situation and how Lifetime Health Cover may affect you, please call the Department on:
1800 020 103 (free call – anywhere in Australia)
If you would like to make an enquiry via email, please send to:
privatehealth@health.gov.au
If you would like to contact us via post, please write to:
Private Health Insurance Branch
Department of Health and Ageing
MDP 86
GPO Box 9848
CANBERRA ACT 2601