The benefit of having private health insurance means different things to different people. The main benefits generally speaking include:

• Saving on tax. For singles with a taxable income of over $90,000 and couples/families over $180,000, taking out private hospital cover will help you avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge. Cover must be held for the full financial year, to receive the full exemption.
• Avoid Lifetime Health Cover loading. Take out private hospital cover before 1 July following your 31st birthday to avoid paying a 2% loading for every year you delay. For example, if you take out hospital cover at age 45 you will pay 30% more than someone who first took out hospital cover at age 30. The maximum loading is 70%.
• Avoiding long waiting lists. By having private hospital cover, typically you will have much shorter waiting periods for elective surgery than those on the public waiting list.
• Choice of doctor. Unlike the public system, private health cover gives you the flexibility to choose your own doctor and participating hospital for treatment.
• Extras Cover. Receive benefits for service that Medicare generally doesn't cover such as dental, optical, chiropractic, physiotherapy and remedial massage.

We recommend that you review your health cover annually, or if there is a change in your personal circumstances. For example, planning to have a baby, to ensure you will be covered for pregnancy. A good time to review your cover is when health insurance premiums increase across the industry, which for most health funds is on 1 April. It is also at this time, that funds announce any changes to plan benefits such as changes to the amount you can claim each year on extras benefits, for example dental and optical. By reviewing your cover, you can ensure you are maximising your health insurance spend by not paying for cover you may not need.

If you switch to another health insurer on the same level of cover, your existing waiting periods will be recognised. The only waiting periods you may need to serve are for new or higher benefits that you weren't previously covered for; and if you haven't completely served the waiting period on cover from your current insurer. For example, major dental has a 12 month waiting period. If you have only served 8 months, you will be required to serve the remaining 4 months with your new insurer before you can make a claim.

Yes. However, if you purchase a product on this site, Aon may earn commission in the range of 0-3% from the participating provider. For further information about how Aon is remunerated, please see our Financial Services Guide.