Couples Health Insurance
Whether you’re getting your teeth cleaned or looking to start a family, GMHBA has couples cover to suit your budget and lifestyle.
GMHBA couples health cover
Couples health insurance simply means one policy for two people. With GMHBA couples insurance, both you and your partner can enjoy great health cover and peace of mind, with the same level of extras and/or hospital benefits. It’s a simpler, more streamlined way to manage your health insurance.
GMHBA has become one of Australia’s leading regionally based private health insurers, covering couples since 1934. With our extensive range of couples health cover, there’s a plan to suit you and your partners budget.
Why get couples health insurance?
What are the benefits of couples health cover? In a word: simplicity. By bundling your health insurance together, you’ve only got one premium to keep track of. Of course, couples health insurance won’t be right for everyone. It really depends on you and your partners health needs, lifestyle, and budget.
Avoid Lifetime Health Cover Loading (LHC) by taking out hospital cover for couples with GMHBA. You and your partner have until 1 July after your 31st birthday.
Depending on you and your partner’s combined income, you both may be eligible for the Australian Government Rebate on private health insurance.
Getting eligible hospital cover for couples could help you and your partner avoid the Medicare Levy Surchage (MLS) if you are high income earners.
Benefits of couples hospital cover with GMHBA
If you have an accident, you'll be covered for hospital treatments that are excluded or restricted on your hospital cover. Conditions apply.
All our couples hospital products include emergency ambulance cover.
GMHBA offers an age-based discount on all hospital covers for anyone under 30. Discount amount varies based on your age.
Why choose GMHBA?
As a not for profit health insurance and care company, we’ve been supporting members for 90 years. Our size may have changed but who we are remains the same. Your health and wellbeing are always put first because we want to make sure you get personalised cover for the moments that matter.
Whatever stage of life you’re at, we’re here for you.
Who qualifies as a couple for health insurance?
To qualify for couples health insurance, you have to be, well, a couple. Technically, anyone who’s married, in a registered relationship, or in a de facto relationship are eligible for couples health cover. There’s no minimum time required for the duration of the relationship either. So even if you’ve just moved in, you might still qualify. Check out our Fund Rules for more detail on what constitutes a couple.
Do we need to get couples insurance?
Just because you’re married, or in a de facto relationship, it doesn’t mean you have to get couples health insurance. There’s no obligation or requirement. In fact, there are plenty of reasons why two single policies might make more sense.
But it’s important to remember that even if you don’t have couples health cover, you’ll still be considered a couple for tax purposes: this means you’ll be subject to couple/family income thresholds for things like the Australian Government Rebate on private health insurance, and the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
Different types of couples health insurance
Couples health cover comes in all shapes, sizes and budgets. So chances are good there’s a policy to suit you, and your partner. At GMHBA, we’ve tried to offer as much choice as possible, whether you want hospital cover, extras cover, or a combination of the two.
Hospital cover covers you for treatments as a private patient in a private hospital. Exactly which treatments depends on your level of cover. With hospital cover, you can usually choose your own doctor. Hospital cover can help you avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Lifetime Health Cover Loading.
Extras offers benefits for services and treatments generally not covered by Medicare. It’s for things like dental, optical, physio, remedial massage and more. It’s a great option if you regularly find yourself using everyday health services. Extras-only cover won’t help you avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge or Lifetime Health Cover Loading.
These plans bundle hospital cover and extras into one policy. This gives you and your partner flexibility and peace of mind by being able to mix and match the right level of hospital cover and the right level of extras cover to suit your combined needs.
Single vs couples insurance
Which is cheaper: two singles policies or one couples policy? Again, there are a lot of factors here, but generally two identical singles policies will be around the same price as the equivalent-level couples policy. Having said that, with couples insurance, you only have one plan to keep track of.
Couples health insurance in Australia varies in price, depending on the level of cover you choose, age, income and state you live in. So it’s hard to give an exact figure here. Every couple is slightly different. The best place to start is to get a quote online, where you can view your desired level of cover and compare policies side-by-side.
Our couples insurance ranges from Accident Only hospital cover (only covered in the event of an accident) right up to Gold Optimum hospital cover (which includes all clinical categories like pregnancy and birth and psychiatric services). To find your ideal level of cover, you need to factor in your budget, your health needs, and your lifestyle. If you simply want to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge, our cheapest couples cover is Accident Only Hospital (Basic).
Hospital excess
Inclusions and benefits aren’t the only thing that affects the price of couples health cover. You should also factor in the hospital excess. Excess is the amount of money you pay before hospital cover benefits become available for a specific treatment as a private patient, provided you are covered for that treatment. The higher the excess you agree to pay, the lower your couples premiums tend to be. And vice versa. If you’re admitted to hospital as a private patient more than once in a calendar year you will only have to pay the excess for your first admission, all subsequent hospital stays won’t require the excess to be paid.
Lifetime Health Cover Loading for couples
Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) Loading is a government scheme that increases the cost of private health cover once you turn 31. It works like this: for every year you don’t hold hospital cover following your 31st birthday, you will incur a 2% increase in your hospital insurance premiums until you take out eligible cover, which has a maximum of 70%. In other words, it pays to get health insurance early and keep it.
LHC Loading works a little differently for couples, in that the loading is averaged between you and your partner. For example, say you’re 36 and you’ve never had hospital cover before: you’ll pay an additional 10% on your premiums (2% for every year after 31). If your partner is 30, they won’t have to pay any LHC. In this example, the loading on your couples policy would be 5%: that’s your 10% loading, divided by two.
The Medicare Levy Surcharge for couples
The Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) is an additional tax for high income earners that don’t hold hospital cover. Once you earn over a certain threshold, and you don’t have hospital cover, you could incur a 1% to 1.5% tax penalty, in addition to the regular Medicare Levy. This is designed to ease the burden on the public health system and encourage more people to take out and keep private health insurance.
For couples, your income is combined for the purposes of the MLS, and this may affect whether or not you have to pay the MLS. You can check the latest income thresholds here.
How to get couples health insurance with GMHBA
There are two basic ways to get couples insurance with GMHBA: you can take out a brand-new couples policy, or, if you're an existing GMHBA member, change your current singles plan (or plans) into a couples plan. Waiting periods may apply if one or both of you move to a higher level of cover than the cover you previously held as a single or if either of you had not previously held health insurance.
Want to take out a new couples health insurance policy? Here’s what to do:
- Choose your cover. Choose from GMHBA’s hospital cover, extras cover, or combined hospital and extras.
- Get a quote. You can get a quick quote online.
- Submit your application. Enter you and your partner’s details, your Medicare information, and checkout online.
If you already have an existing GMHBA singles policy, and you’d like to change to a couples plan, the easiest way is to give our friendly team a call on 1300 477 046, drop into a branch or via the member area. Keep in mind, if you’re adding a partner to your policy, they’ll still need to serve any waiting periods that may apply and your premium will increase to cover the additional adult.
Starting a family
Upgrading from couples health cover to a family plan is easy. Whether you’re expecting your first child, or you’d like to bundle the kids onto your couples health insurance, give our team a call. They can walk you through the process or you can do it via the member area. Just keep a few things in mind:
If you are considering private health cover for pregnancy, pregnancy and birth-related services are only covered on our Gold Optimum Hospital plan.
GMHBA’s waiting period for pregnancy and birth-related services is 12 months. This is standard across the industry. What this means is that, if you are looking to give birth in a private hospital, you’ll need to take out a policy at least 3-4 months before conception.
If you’re moving from couples cover to a family plan, just be aware that children may have to serve waiting periods too, just like any other new member. There are exceptions to this rule, including newborns, adopted and permanent foster children.
New to health insurance?
We understand that getting couples health insurance for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot to consider! You can contact us if you have any concerns or questions and one of our helpful staff will be able to help.
Switching to GMHBA
View our range of couples hospital and extras products, and choose the cover that best suits you and your partner’s needs.
Let us know who your previous insurer is and we’ll cancel your old membership, request the transfer certificate, and handle all the paperwork for you.
*Join GMHBA within 30 days of leaving your old fund, and provided you're not increasing your cover, we'll honour any waiting periods you've already served. Also, any extras benefits already used at your previous fund will come with you to your new fund.
Frequently asked questions about couples health insurance
If you take out couples hospital cover, you and your partner can be treated in a private hospital and have more choice over your doctor.
There are financial considerations, too. Private couples insurance can help you avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge if you’re a high income earner and the Lifetime Health Cover Loading.
That depends on the two policies you’re comparing, but broadly speaking, yes. Couples insurance provides the same benefits as the equivalent level of singles cover.
Not at all. Anyone who’s married, in a registered relationship, or a de facto relationship, can qualify for couples health insurance. There is no minimum duration for the relationship, either. As long as you meet the definition of a ‘couple’, you’re eligible for coverage. View our fund rules.
Insurance discrimination based on sexual preference or identity is illegal. Same-sex couples are eligible for cover according to the same criteria as anyone else.
If you’re not married, and you’re not in a registered relationship, you may still be eligible for couples health cover as a ‘de facto’ couple. The Australian Government has defined this loosely as when “two people have a relationship as a couple on a genuine domestic basis”.
No, sorry. This type of policy is designed for married and de facto couples. If you want health insurance for two people who aren’t in a relationship, like a brother and sister, you’ll need two individual singles policies.
Private health insurance isn’t a one-size-fits-all game. And the same goes for couples cover. The best level of cover for you, and your partner, will depend on your budget, your shared health needs, and your lifestyle. It’s important to compare various levels of insurance before committing, and to read your policy thoroughly.
To compare GMHBA’s couples health insurance, you can get a quote online or give our friendly team a call.
Yes, if you and your partner get it early enough. Lifetime Health Cover Loading begins to accrue after 1 July following your 31st birthday. If you get hospital cover before this date, you won’t have to pay any LHC. However, the longer you wait before committing to private insurance, the more expensive it becomes. Every year after 30, the government applies a 2% loading on your health insurance premiums. This goes for singles and couples. To avoid this extra charge, all you need is the basic level of hospital cover.
For couples, if your combined income exceeds the MLS threshold amounts and you don't have hospital cover, you'll face an additional tax through the Medicare Levy Surcharge, which ranges from 1% to 1.5%. That’s on top of the regular Medicare Levy. This means it’s generally a good idea to take out hospital cover once you and your partner are earning a certain amount.
Unfortunately not. Couples health insurance is a shared policy, which means both individuals have the same level of cover and benefits. If you or your partner want a higher level of individual cover, we recommend two singles policies. That way you can tweak your coverage to suit your needs.
That’s really up to you! Couples are free to take out two individual policies, or one couples policy. Which one is ‘better’ really comes down to your health needs and your lifestyle. For example, if you and your partner are a similar age, with similar health requirements, and you use a similar range of services (like optical and dental) it probably makes sense to bundle your coverage onto one couples plan. On the other hand, if you’re trying to get pregnant and want to be covered for pregnancy or birth related services, or if one of you has drastically different healthcare needs, it might work out cheaper to purchase two individual policies. That way each of you gets more control over your cover.
Yes, there are different threshold tests for couples under the Australian Government’s rebate on private health insurance. If your combined household income is less than tier 3 income threshold, you’ll both qualify for the rebate on the cost of your private health policy. You can check out the latest income thresholds and rebate rates over here.
They sure can! You’re free to structure your private health insurance in any way you like, and there may be good reasons for choosing two singles policies over combined couples health cover.
Potentially, yes. If you earn more than the Medicare Levy Surcharge base tier income threshold as a couple, and you don’t have hospital cover, you may have to pay the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS). That’s an additional government tax, ranging from 1% to 1.5%.
If you and your partner earn under the tier three income threshold, you could also be eligible for the Austalian Government Rebate on private health insurance. This is a government-issued, income-tested refund on the cost of your health insurance.
As with any other kind of health insurance, you can begin claiming on your couples health cover as soon as you’ve served any relevant waiting periods. Check out our waiting periods page for more information.
If you move to GMHBA and have already served your waiting periods elsewhere and do not have a gap in cover greater than 30 days, then yes. If you haven’t had pregnancy cover before, then unfortunately no, you cannot get cover for pregnancy and birth without serving the industry standard 12 months waiting periods. The good news is, if your baby's due date is after you're 12 month waiting periods are up, even if your baby comes early, you'll still be covered. However, its generally a good idea to ensure you are covered for pregnancy and birth at least 3 to 4 months before trying to get pregnant.
Waiting periods discourage people from taking out health cover for pregnancy, claiming and then cancelling their cover. That sort of behaviour drives up premiums for all members.
You sure can. GMHBA’s age-based discount applies to all levels of hospital cover for singles and couples. Here’s how it works: for every year that a person is aged under 30, they’re eligible for a 2% reduction on their hospital cover premiums. This caps out at 10% for 18 to 25 year-olds. For couples, the discount is calculated as an average. For example, if you’re eligible for a 6% discount, but your partner isn’t eligible at all, you’ll get a 3% discount on your couples cover. The discount will then remain in place until 41, at which point the discount will decrease by 2% each year until it reaches 0%.
Easy! In fact, we’ll take care of most of the paperwork for you. To get started, browse our cover range and find a policy that’s right for you. Then you can join online or give our friendly team a call on 1300 382 151. Once you’ve picked your policy, GMHBA will cancel your existing membership and request the transfer certificate from your old insurer. You don’t have to lift a finger. We’ll also honour any existing wait periods served, as long as you join GMHBA within 30 days, and you’re not increasing your level of cover.