nib Overseas Visitors Health Insurance Review January 2021

Many overseas visitor and student visas for Australia will require you to have a form of health insurance, often referred to as overseas visitor health cover (OVHC) or overseas student health cover (OSHC). nib is one of many Australian health insurance providers that offers this type of cover.

nib is one of Australia’s most prominent health insurance providers, covering more than one million customers in Australia and New Zealand. It is known for flexible policies that offer a range of options and cover levels, and brings the same benefits to its OVHC

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For non-students there are four levels of cover to choose from, so you can balance your cost and health needs to find a policy that’s right for you.

For other overseas visitors who want additional cover, there are four options to choose from, all of which meet visa requirements. nib offers these through IMAN, a subsidiary largely focused on healthcare for overseas visitors.

• Budget: Basic cover for emergencies. You will likely need to pay out-of-pocket expenses for things like doctor visits, and other relatively basic health needs.

• Basic: Effective cover for wider, everyday health needs, such as doctor consultations, outpatient medical services and basic health needs.

Hospital benefits

Extras benefits

What’s not covered

Non-Medicare services are not covered by any of the cover types, except the applicable extras. Each cover type also has some specific exclusions which you cannot claim benefits for:

Budget:

• General dental and optical
• Outpatient medical
• Outpatient pharmaceutical
• Non-medicare procedures
• Assisted reproductive
• Bone marrow and organ transplants

Basic:

• General dental and optical
• Outpatient psychology and psychiatry
• Non-Medicare services
• Assisted reproductive
• Bone marrow and organ transplants

All cover levels will fulfill your visa requirements and also entitle you to specific additional benefits.

• Emergency ambulance cover included
• No excess for any services or hospital admissions
• Repatriation benefits, to transport you back to your home country if medically required
• Funeral expenses cover, up to $20,000

In all cases, you will only be covered up to 100% of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) amount for hospital and other medical services. This is the “normal” cost of procedures according to Australia’s public healthcare system. Some policies and treatments will only let you claim up to 85% of the MBS amount, in which case you will need to pay the difference yourself. In all cases you will only be covered for the specified situations and treatments listed in your policy.

If you undergo treatments with a doctor who charges more than the MBS amount, such as you might find at a private clinic, you will need to pay any difference yourself.

You can check beforehand to see how much a doctor charges, and whether you’ll incur any gap expenses.

Waiting periods also apply, and you cannot claim for the specified services immediately after taking out cover.

• Ambulance cover: No waiting period
• Inpatient psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation: 2 months
• Pre-existing conditions and pregnancy-related services: 12 months

If you’re an OSHC member with nib, your claims options include:

Compare nib’s range of overseas visitors cover

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