Hi all.
I've reached my limit on dental and optical this year with my fund, and would ideally like another pair of glasses and another round of dental hygiene.
There are a couple of 'waiting period waived' offers out there for these extras, and I'm wondering if it would be possible for me to take advantage of one of these deals, while remaining a member of my current health fund (for extras and hospital).
Is it possible to be a member of two health funds for extras at once?
Malarkey you are right. You can have two extras cover but cannot claim the full amount twice. However, you can claim from one and then claim the gap from the other.
Of course, all this depends on the fund concerned. Some funds allow it but others will tell you that it is not allowed.
Whoever negged me. Get your facts right. I have two extras covers. They both know about each other and both allow me to claim the gap from the other.
I send the second fund the remittance slip from the first fund to show them how much I got back from the first fund. The second fund then allows me to claim the gap amount.
Unless you have called every fund that exists, you will not know what they allow.
I don't know why the first fund doesn't insist that the second fund pay first and that they pay the gap. Are you sure the first fund knows?
Definitely, both funds know about each other. I made sure that this would be OK with both of them before I bought into the second fund.
I don't always claim from the same fund first.
To clarify, one funds limits start 1 January and the other funds limits start on 1 July. So at this time of year I first use the fund that reinstate limits on 1 January given that the limits will restart soon. For the first half of the year, I claim the other way around. (claim first from the fund that reinstates on 1 July, then the gap from the other fund).
This is what works for me.
NIB states categorically "no" - from page 4 of their policy booklet under Applying for a Health Insurance Policy: "■ You cannot have the same type of health cover with more than one health fund (e.g. you cannot have a Hospital package with 2 health funds, nor can you have an Extras package with 2 health funds)" so I'd assume this may be standard across the industry?
Unless it has changed in recent years then it was industry standard that you can have multiple private health insurance policies as long as you don't claim on more than 1 for each procedure (and claim the govt rebate for more than 1). Obviously individual funds can make their own rules.
This information was also listed in NIB's "Principle Rules and By-Laws" but I couldn't really find anything from the other health funds that listed anything similar. So most funds don't say you can't … but then they don't state that you can either LOL. Even the Government's Private Health Insurance website only mentions that you can have hospital cover with one fund and extras with another, you don't have to have all your cover with the same fund, but doesn't mention anything about multiple policies for the same cover. Would be interesting to find out.
I took out my health insurance about 10 years ago, so don't know whether they ask you these days if you currently have that type of cover with another fund. If you do, but say no, then I guess it could possibly be classed as providing fraudulent information under a duty of disclosure clause or similar?
You can always just wait until the next year, or what if you sign up to another provider and they should waive the waiting periods and then cancel your old policy?
Wondering the same thing, can I be extras with NIb and Bupa at the same time?
I am also wondering about this….will have some phone calls to different insurers tomorrow…would be great to share the outcome mate..cheers matt
Hi mate,
Did you get an answer to this?
I want to know the same thing but the CSR I spoke to had no idea!
I'm on an old plan that suits me just fine, except for one part. But the new plans are way more expensive and don't seem to include some of the extras I had on the old plan. So wanted 2 extras funds to cover me.
Also would be good to put the kids on, but to do that with they want to put me on a new plan.
Did anyone get an answer for this? I'm wondering myself … Thanks :)
I'm also wanting to know this.. can anyone shed some light please?
I can update for a few
I have family cover (2 adults 1 child) with HBF, hospital + extras.
HBF doesn't pay much back at my physio, i'm going to need a heap of it in the next few months after surgery. physio is a medibank preffered provider, extra $24 more back compared to HBF.
Called Medibank and signed up just for myself, the lady there said you can have as many policies as you want, you just will need to serve waiting periods for new ones that you don't cancel/transfer over. So I now have an extra policy with them for $24/month on top of my HBF cover. I won't use the HBF cover until I run out of limit on medibank and will cancel that policy.
So, yes you can have multiple policies, covering the same items, she stated you can't double claim, somebody above suggests you can? not sure. i'm fine with that as its only going to be a short term policy for me to save about $400 in physio costs after the cover resets at the end of the year and i get a new set of limits to burn through. Oh and the gov rebate still applies, doesn't matter she told me you can claim it for all your policies, sweet extra $7.50/month thanks grubment.
I don't think the answer is as simple as you can have multiple policies so long as you don't make the same claim twice. For example:
CBHS Health Benefit Fund Rules
C7.1 Grounds for cancellation
…
(b) CBHS may cancel the membership of any Member on any of the following grounds:
(iii) the Member has concurrent membership in a Non-CBHS Fund;
Source: https://www.cbhs.com.au/docs/default-source/legal-documents/…
nib health funds limited Fund Rules
C2 Eligibility for Membership
…
C2.3 Dual PoliciesParagraph (a) applies to nib Policies only:
(a) A person who is a Member under a health insurance product offered by a private health insurer other than nib is not eligible to contribute to, or Claim under, an equivalent Product offered by nib.Paragraph (b) applies to GU Health Policies only:
(b) Unless otherwise expressly permitted by the Private Health Insurance Act, a person shall not be admitted as a Policy Holder or Partner, or continue as a Policy Holder or Partner under a GU Health Policy that covers Hospital Treatment if he or she is covered for Hospital Treatment under a policy referrable to another health insurance fund.
Source: https://www.nib.com.au/docs/fund-rules
In respect of hospital insurance only, I do not think the Australian Government Private Health Insurance Rebate would be permitted to be paid on two policies concurrently. However, I have been unable to find any law, regulation, or rule which confirms my suspicion. The relevant rules are not listed on the rebate application form. See https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/ms006
I expect that it is for the above reason (the rebate) and fraud risk (double claiming) that some funds disallow concurrent membership of the same type. Other funds without such a rule may have just failed to implement the relevant term in their governance documents.
Interestingly, I can't find similar 'no double insurance' rules in all the health funds' rules.
Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure it's fine as long as you don't double claim i.e have some dental work done and claim on both policies if that makes sense? Claiming twice is pretty much fraud but there is nothing stopping you having two policies.