Financial support and customer assistance options

A suspension is a period of time where we ‘freeze’ your membership. This means we essentially put your membership on hold, so you won’t need to pay any premiums, or re-serve any waiting periods that you’ve already completed.

Suspending your membership gives you the ability to easily pause your health cover when you need to, enabling you to pick up your health insurance where you left off.

It’s important to note, that while your membership is on hold, you’ll be unable to claim any benefits, and if you’re still within waiting periods, these will resume once your membership is reactivated.

Unfortunately, these Financial Hardship suspensions will apply to all members on the policy for the same period.

Suspensions apply to your entire membership, so if you have both Hospital and Extras cover, both will be suspended. Unfortunately, partial suspensions are not possible under the policy rules.

No, benefits aren’t payable for treatments received, services provided, or items purchased during a period of suspension. If your membership is suspended and you need to make a claim, you can reactivate your membership early, however this must be arranged before you receive the treatment or purchase the services/items.

When you suspend your hospital cover, you are not considered to have Hospital cover for Medicare Levy Surcharge purposes. Depending on your income, you may become liable for the Medicare Levy Surcharge during the period of suspension.

For more information about the Medicare Levy Surcharge click here or visit the Australian Taxation Office.

No, when you suspend your hospital cover, you are still considered to have Hospital cover for LHC loading purposes.

If you’re currently paying the LHC loading, the period of suspension does not count towards your 1,094 permitted Days of Absence, and your LHC loading will not increase while your hospital cover is suspended. However, suspending your hospital cover will extend the LHC loading removal date. For more information about LHC loading click here.

Yes, you can reactivate your membership at any time. Call us on 132 331 and we can reactivate your membership from the date you contact us. Please note, you cannot reactivate your membership prior to the day you contact us.

Suspensions are generally applied for the maximum allowable period at the time of application, therefore extension is generally not required.

Please note, if you’ve already suspended your membership under one of the above Financial Hardship Policies, you must hold your membership for at least 12 months before suspending again under the same policy.