Does anyone know the cheapest HCF insurance (cheapest Extra's, or other non-health insurance) that gives access to HCF Thank You, that therefore gives access to gift cards?
Has anyone cancelled their HCF insurance and determined how long after (if at all) they still had access to HCF Thank You, gift cards?
Ambulance Cover does not count.
When I first joined HCF, I only had Ambulance Cover and had no way of accessing HCF Thank You. It wasn’t until I upgraded to an Extras only policy that I was given access to HCF Thank You.
You lose access immediately i think because one time, my monthly premium was overdue and i couldn't buy anything.
The full terms and conditions for HCF Thank You can be found here and it outlines eligible products under clause 4(g):
Eligible Product includes any Australian residents hospital or ancillary product (excluding Ambulance Only) or any Life and Disability, Term Life, Family Plan – FPL, Income Protection, Salary Continuance Insurance, Recovery Cover, Crisis Cash and Serious Illness Cover, Smart Term, Women’s care, Income Assist, Medical Trauma, Bounce Back or Critical Illness Cover.
I instinctively would have guessed that the base tier Extras-only plan would be the cheapest way to get access to HCF Thank You, but I will leave it to you to explore whether one of the other mentioned insurance policies is cheaper for your case. (I don’t know enough about you to run quotes on your behalf!)
Keep in mind that you can access Corporate policies through some employers and Flybuys, and those may be cheaper than the generic policies available to the wider public.
A couple of other points to consider:
Clause 5 mentions you need to hold an eligible policy for at least one week and cannot be in financial arrears on that eligible policy.
Clause 6 also mentions you will not be eligible to access HCF Thank You if you only hold Overseas Visitors Health Cover.
HCF Thank You has a 1% card transaction fee that you cannot avoid, and this is not factored into any of the percentages given on the Discounted Gift Card comparison table.
They have a bare bones policy which you can only get over the phone HCF ACCIDENT ONLY BASIC which will avoid medicare surcharge.
I was thinking about the same thing. my guess was ambulance cover for $50ish a year. I tune in to see what others say.