What are waiting periods in health insurance?
In health insurance, a waiting period is the time immediately after you take out a policy for the first time, or upgrade your cover, during which you won’t be able to make a claim.
Health insurance waiting periods exist to prevent people taking out cover and then making a claim straight away. Most other forms of insurance come with waiting periods too.
The length of a waiting period varies depending on the type of condition, ranging from two months for most conditions to 12 months for others.
Waiting periods are one of the potential disadvantages of health insurance, as they apply in most scenarios. But there are a handful of situations where getting health insurance with no waiting period may be possible. The catch is, you generally need to have cover in place already to qualify.
How can I get health insurance with no waiting period?
Here are some situations when it may be possible to avoid health insurance waiting periods:
1
Switch to the same level cover or lower
You can get health insurance with no waiting period on a Hospital policy if you already have cover, and then sign up for a new policy that offers the same or a lower level of coverage.
The new insurer must recognise that you have already served the appropriate waiting period.
If your new policy includes coverage that your old policy didn’t, you may need to serve a waiting period for the new inclusions.
If you're switching from singles health insurance to a couples policy (or vice versa), the waiting period you already serves as an individual would be recognised under the new policy.
2
Mental health exemption
If you have a Hospital policy that includes psychiatric cover, you may be able to upgrade to a higher level of psychiatric cover without needing to serve a further waiting period. You would need to already have served the two-month waiting period on your existing lower level of cover.
The ‘mental health waiting period exemption’ applies to mental health services and drug and alcohol treatment. You can only use this exemption once in your lifetime.
Note if you upgrade your cover in this way, your health insurance will likely become more expensive.
3
Extras offers with waiting periods waived
Waiting periods on Extras are not as strictly regulated. This means insurers have more flexibility to tailor waiting periods to particular conditions, or waive the waiting period entirely in some cases.
For example, it’s relatively common to see health insurance special offers where insurers offer Extras cover with no waiting period on certain conditions for new customers. This is usually a temporary special offer as opposed to a standard feature of the cover.
The waived waiting period is generally only for certain types of Extras cover – commonly those with a two- or six-month waiting period. The standard waiting period applies to anything else not included in the special offer.
Here are some providers offering to waive the waiting period on selected Extras.
Health insurance with no waiting period on Extras
Provider | Australian Seniors (restricted membership) |
|---|---|
No waiting period offer | Join directly on combined Hospital and Extras products and get the 2 & 6 month waiting periods on extras waived (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 15 January 2025 |
Provider | CBHS |
No waiting period offer | Join on Hospital and Extras and skip 2 & 6 month waiting periods on Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 10 November 2024 |
Provider | HCF |
No waiting period offer | Join on eligible combined Hospital & Extras cover and HCF will waive the 2-month waiting periods on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply). |
Offer expires | 9 December 2024 |
Provider | Health Partners |
No waiting period offer | Purchase combined Hospital and Extras cover and avoid the waits on most Extras with a 2-month waiting period after the first contribution payment has been received (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 30 November 2024 |
Provider | Medibank |
No waiting period offer | Purchase new Bronze Hospital and Extras cover or higher and avoid the waits on most Extras with a 2 & 6 month waiting period. T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 21 November 2024 |
Provider | Navy Health (restricted membership) |
No waiting period offer | Join with Hospital & Extras cover and you’ll get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 14 February 2025 |
Provider | Qantas Health |
No waiting period offer | Take out combined Hospital and Extras cover to get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 6 November 2024 |
Provider | Suncorp |
No waiting period offer | Take out combined Hospital and Extras cover to get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 13 January 2025 |
Provider | Teachers Health (restricted membership) |
No waiting period offer | Take out combined Hospital and Extras cover get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. |
Offer expires | 5 January 2025 |
| Provider | No waiting period offer | Offer expires |
|---|---|---|
Australian Seniors (restricted membership) | Join directly on combined Hospital and Extras products and get the 2 & 6 month waiting periods on extras waived (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 15 January 2025 |
CBHS | Join on Hospital and Extras and skip 2 & 6 month waiting periods on Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 10 November 2024 |
HCF | Join on eligible combined Hospital & Extras cover and HCF will waive the 2-month waiting periods on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply). | 9 December 2024 |
Health Partners | Purchase combined Hospital and Extras cover and avoid the waits on most Extras with a 2-month waiting period after the first contribution payment has been received (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 30 November 2024 |
Medibank | Purchase new Bronze Hospital and Extras cover or higher and avoid the waits on most Extras with a 2 & 6 month waiting period. T&Cs apply. | 21 November 2024 |
Navy Health (restricted membership) | Join with Hospital & Extras cover and you’ll get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 14 February 2025 |
Qantas Health | Take out combined Hospital and Extras cover to get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 6 November 2024 |
Suncorp | Take out combined Hospital and Extras cover to get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 13 January 2025 |
Teachers Health (restricted membership) | Take out combined Hospital and Extras cover get the 2- and 6-month waits waived on selected Extras (eligible new customers only, T&Cs apply. | 5 January 2025 |
Standard health insurance waiting periods
Below is a rundown on the standard waiting periods for different types of health insurance in Australia. There are restrictions on the maximum waiting period insurers may apply to various Hospital cover inclusions, but waiting periods on Extras are not regulated in the same way.
Waiting periods on Hospital cover
| Coverage type | Waiting period for new policies or upgrades |
|---|---|
Pre-existing conditions | Max 12 months |
Pregnancy and birth (obstetrics) | Max 12 months |
Psychiatric treatments, rehabilitation or palliative care | Max 2 months |
All other circumstances | Max 2 months |
Waiting periods on Extras cover
Note, insurers are free to set any waiting period on Extras cover, so they vary between providers. Here is a general guide to the wait periods what may apply:
| Coverage type | Waiting period for new policies or upgrades |
|---|---|
General dental services | 2 months |
Physiotherapy | 2 months |
Optical | 6 months |
Major dental & orthodontics | 12 months or longer |
Podiatric surgery | 12 months or longer |
