Hospital cover is for things like accommodation, theatre and doctors’ fees in hospital. We love keeping our hospital cover simple with five types of private hospital cover to best suit your needs. All our covers come with an exceptional level of ambulance cover.
Ambulance cover included
One thing that Peoplecare includes as a bonus is 100% land, air and sea ambulance cover with no annual limits with every Peoplecare cover.* A short trip in an ambulance can be expensive. To view what you get, read here.
*State-recognised ambulance providers only.
Australian Service Excellence Awards CSIA 2023 Highly Commended
* IPSOS 2021 survey results for open private health insurance funds.
How does hospital cover work?
Holding hospital cover allows you to go to hospital as a private patient for the services you are covered for.
All our hospital covers help you:
- Avoid Lifetime Health Cover loading
- Receive a government rebate to reduce your premiums (see the income tiers for eligibility)
- Suit your budget and needs
- Choose your own doctor
- Avoid paying Medicare Levy Surcharge
- Access Australia-wide coverage at more than 540 hospitals with 37,000 medical specialists
Expenses hospital cover can pay:
- Hospital accommodation (100% if the treatment is included on your cover)
- Theatre fees (100% if the treatment is included on your cover)
- In-hospital medicine (100% of PBS listed medications if the treatment is included on your cover)
- Doctor’s fees. Peoplecare pays a minimum of 25% on each Medicare Benefit Schedule fee if the treatment is included on your cover (we pay more if your doctor uses our Access Gap scheme) and Medicare pays 75%. Learn more about Access Gap.
How much can a hospital stay cost?
You might be surprised by how much it costs to pay for a private hospital procedure without private hospital insurance. To give you an idea, these are the highest hospital costs for individual Peoplecare members we paid in the 2022 financial year:
| Top 5 hospital claims | |
|---|---|
| Admission reason | Total benefit paid |
| Digestive system | $132,339 |
| Heart and vascular system | $117,168 |
| Heart and vascular system | $96,586 |
| Heart and vascular system | $95,477 |
| Back, neck and spine | $87,459 |
Are you under 30?
Take out our Basic Plus Hospital or Bronze Plus Hospital cover before you turn 30 to lock in the age-based discount. The discount ranges from 2% to 10%, depending on your age.
Two important things to be aware of — these apply to all health funds
- Waiting periods (including those for pre-existing conditions), excesses, restrictions & exclusions might apply. Read more
- Going to public hospital as a private patient? Public hospital waiting lists apply, so check with your doctor and the hospital.
Coming to us from another health fund? Switching is easy
Switching is simpler than you think. It takes around five minutes and you can switch online or over the phone.
Don’t worry, if you’re transferring from another health fund we’ll make sure we recognise any waiting periods you’ve already served if you switch within 30 days.
To switch, just join Peoplecare and we can cancel your existing cover for you. You won’t spend any time without cover that way. We send them a request for details of your cover with them (this is called a Transfer Certificate) and then we’ll recognise the waiting periods you’ve already served.
Sometimes if you’ve used all of your annual limit with your old fund, you’ll have to wait for the new financial year to renew your limits.
Are you new to hospital cover?
There are waiting periods involved and a blanket 12-month waiting period for pre-existing conditions (except for rehabilitation, psychiatric services and palliative care) when you first join.
