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• Bupa was highly commended for Best Health Fund in the 2023 Finder Awards, placing it in the top 3 funds. Its Basic Plus Starter Hospital was highly commended for Best Basic Hospital. Its Budget Extras 60 was also highly commended for Best Basic Extras.
• Bupa's Basic Plus Starter Hospital policy covers 8 hospital treatments – more than other similarly priced funds in our database. Claimable benefits include joint reconstructions, dental surgery and lung and chest.
• BUPA's policy is more generous than most of the 25 entry-level policies we analysed. For example, Bupa doesn't cap how often you can claim for emergency ambulance call-outs, and you can add up to $5,000 worth of non-emergency cover per person annually. You can also get free dental check-ups at Bupa's selected dentists if you take out a combined policy.

• Residents of Tasmania and Queensland won't benefit from private ambulance cover, as it's already offered by state governments.

Bupa was highly commended for its Basic Plus Starter Hospital at the 2023 Finder Awards. It also placed in the top 3 scores for Budget Extras 60 in the Basic Extras category, and was highly commended for FLEXtras 4 Standard 50. Other factors also make it a great option if you want a basic policy covering in-hospital and out-of-hospital services and treatments.

Bupa was the top scorer for customer service at the Finder's 2023 Customer Satisfaction Awards. It placed ahead of ahm, nib and HCF among others.

According to the latest State of Health Funds report, it has a better complaint ratio than most of Australia's other large funds.

Additionally, Bupa was a runner-up in Roy Morgan's Most Trusted Private Health Insurance award for 2022.

Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

To be eligible for Finder Awards, policies needed to be available to purchase in April 2023 from a non-restricted provider with at least a 0.5% national market share.

• You get access to AIA Vitality, a science-backed digital health and wellbeing program. This includes money off gym memberships, cashback on eligible Virgin Australia Flights, hundreds of dollars in e-gift cards, up to 80% back on your dental when you visit smile.com.au and more. You can even earn an Apple Watch.
• It's competitively priced. AIA Bronze Plus Hospital costs around $24 per week, that's only $3 more than the cheapest bronze option – but AIA covers a lot more. It includes 23 hospital services, 5 more than is required for a bronze policy.
• You can get access to AIA Vitality with some other funds including GMHBA. However, we selected AIA because it received a lower percentage of complaints than GMHBA (1.2% vs 1.6%), according to the Ombudsman, and you can get access to AIA Vitality with any of its policies. It's only available with a small number of GMHBA policies.

• Customers don't tend to stay around for long. AIA has the lowest member retention rate (69%) of all major health funds. This is most likely because people join to take advantage of the benefits, then leave.
• 84.2% of AIA hospital services have no gap, according to the latest government report. This is lower than lots of other funds including Bupa (91.6%), HBF (92.8%) and Medibank (84.6%).

We picked AIA Health Insurance because it gives you access to AIA Vitality with all of its policies. Our insurance experts feel AIA is worth calling out because you can't get access to the same quality of health benefits with any other fund. However, everyone's needs are different so it's worth doing some research yourself.

With GMHBA you can only get access to AIA Vitality with some policies. We selected the Bronze Plus option because it only costs marginally more than the cheapest bronze policies available on the market and it covers 5 more treatments than a standard bronze hospital policy. AIA also received a lower percentage of complaints compared to GMHBA.

You can also get AIA Vitality with CommBank. However, you need to be a CommBank customer, so we excluded them from eligibility.

Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

• You can potentially avoid the Medicare levy surcharge (MLS) and pay less tax with this policy. It costs less than $21 per week, covers ambulance and includes more options than most comparable policies.
• This is within $2 of the cheapest policy available on Finder – a good choice if you're looking for a bare-minimum policy to avoid the MLS.
• HBF won Best Health Fund of the Year at the 2023 Finder Awards, scoring more points than any other fund due to its high-value policies.
• Unlike other entry-level policies, it comes with a feature called accident inclusion. If you have an accident, HBF will cover you in a private hospital for treatments that are excluded or restricted on your cover.

• Keep in mind this policy does not cover you in a private hospital for most treatments. HBF's Basic Hospital Plus Elevate plan could suit those with more complex needs; it covers 15 treatments including gastro, miscarriages and cancer treatments. What's more, it won Best Basic Hospital at the 2023 Finder Awards.

The MLS means you'll be taxed up to 1.5% more if you don't have hospital insurance and earn over $90,000 as a single or $180,000 as a couple (or $93k or $186k for FY23/24, respectively). The minimum impact of this would cost you an extra $75 a month (based on the tax year 2022/2023).

We selected HBF's Basic Hospital Plus because it has competitive pricing but still offers ambulance cover and accident inclusion, along with 5 in-hospital treatments. Pricing starts at around $81.16 per month. If you're earning over $100,000 a year, that would cost you less than paying the MLS.

To be eligible for Finder Awards, policies needed to be available to purchase in April 2023 from a non-restricted provider with at least a 0.5% national market share.

Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

• Winner of Best Silver Hospital and Best Bronze Hospital at the 2023 Finder Awards – HCF was the only fund to win more than one hospital category.
• Its silver policy covers 30 treatments, which is 4 more than the government's minimum requirement for silver hospital policies. At $108.90 monthly, it's currently the second-cheapest policy in Finder's database – only behind Bupa ($102.49).
• The not-for-profits's bronze policy includes 26 hospital services and covers accidents, intensive care and accommodation, plus joint reconstructions, digestive system and more.

• HCF doesn't offer Basic or Basic Plus policies, meaning other funds should be considered if you're looking to get around the MLS (for example, if you earn more than $90k as a single or $180,000 as a couple); or hoping to avoid the lifetime health cover loading (which kicks in after you turn 31).

HCF was the winner of Best Silver Hospital at the 2023 Finder Awards and won Best Bronze Hospital. Put simply, it scored more points than any other fund in these 2 categories as it has the best value policies.

For in-hospital treatments, we looked at 38 covers to measure the comprehensiveness of a policy. HCF couldn't be topped in the bronze or silver categories.

HCF has an excellent member retention rate of 98.6% – the highest of the 45 funds where this information is tracked. That said, HCF's no-gap payment percentage of 87.80% for out-of-pocket costs was behind all 4 other major health funds.

HCF was a runner-up in the 2022 Roy Morgan award for Most Trusted Private Health Insurance.

To be eligible for Finder Awards, policies needed to be available to purchase in April 2023 from a non-restricted provider with at least a 0.5% national market share.

Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

• ahm was the top-scoring health insurance brand for ease of application in Finder's 2023 Customer Satisfaction Awards.
• It also ranked second for customer service – out of 8 health funds – in Finder's most recent awards.
• ahm's owner Medibank had a proportionally lower number of complaints than all other funds with more than 1% market share, according to the Ombudsman's State of the Health Funds Report for 2022. Medibank holds 27.5% of the market, but just 19.30% of overall complaints.

• It's worth keeping in mind that the most recent Ombudsman report uses complaints figures that were complied before Medibank/ahm's 2022 cyber attack. At the time of writing, ahm had a better rating score than Medibank on ProductReview.com.au

The basis of our pick was new data for May 2023. Finder's long-running Customer Satisfaction Awards – which you can learn more about here – conduct thousands of customer interviews around their product purchasing history and satisfaction with their purchased products.

This year, 8 eligible health funds were considered across 5 categories. ahm scored highest for Ease of application. It was second overall for Customer Service. Bupa was the only provider to score higher in this category (but ahm had a higher overall score).

We've also used complaints data from the Ombudsman's State of the Health Funds Report for 2022, which is the most recent annual report currently available.

*Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

• It's the only health insurer on the market that lets you earn Qantas Points.
• You earn 1 Qantas Point for every $1 you spend on premiums and, in many cases, earn points when you sign up.
• Qantas' underwriter is nib, which covers 91.8% of hospital services with no gap costs (out-of-pocket expenses). That makes it the fourth-highest out of 22 other major Australian funds. Medibank and HCF cover 84.6% and 87.8% respectively.

We've selected Qantas as our top pick for bonus points because it's the only policy on the market that lets you earn Qantas Points.

Unlike our other top picks, we haven't selected a specific Qantas product. This is because points are available with every policy and the best value option comes down to your individual needs.

• Medibank's Gold Complete Hospital policy took highly commended at the 2023 Finder Awards for Best Gold Hospital. The policy ranked in the top 3 for value from all eligible gold hospital insurance policies we analysed.
• Medibank's coverage is often more comprehensive than rivals. For instance, its pregnancy cover. includes continuity of care and IVF cover, while extras pay benefits for antenatal and postnatal classes, pregnancy compression garments and Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) membership.
• It's efficient. Medibank has the lowest management expenses – how much of your money it spends on operating costs – per average policy, based on our analysis of Ombudsman data.

• Australian Unity won Best Gold Hospital policy at the 2023 Finder Awards. If you're just looking for hospital cover, it's worth a side-by-side comparison of Australian Unity's Prime Hospital (Gold) with Medibank's Gold Complete Hospital.

Hospital & Extras

We selected Medibank's Gold Complete Hospital policy as our top pick for comprehensive in part because it won highly commended for Best Gold Hospital Insurance policy at the 2023 Finder Awards.

Out of 28 policies, it covered all 38 treatments and was more comprehensive than most other gold-level hospital policies.

Medbank offers its customers a guaranteed private room (where available) and pays benefits towards trips and stays at hospitals further than 200km away – good for those in rural or regional areas.

The extras cover you can combine with in-hospital treatments goes further than Bupa, HBF, ahm and Australian Unity (Medibank scored higher than each of these insurers in the 2023 Finder Awards).

It covers a range of services such as major dental, massages, non-PBS medicines and pre- and post-birth costs.

Medibank also has the sixth-highest percentage of extras charges covered, according to the latest Ombudsman report – above the other funds that were recognised in the same extras category.

• ahm's extras policies are the only ones currently available with no waiting periods for general dental and optical as a standard feature. You can also skip waiting periods on physio, chiro, osteo, psychology, pharmacy and remedial massages. Emergency ambulance cover is included too.
• You get up to 2 free dental check-ups per year and 100% back on optical. No other insurer beats this.
• ahm was the top-scoring health insurance brand for ease of application in Finder's 2022 Customer Satisfaction Awards, and ranked second for customer service. It placed ahead of major insurers including HBF, nib and HCF.

• If you're a family or require regular treatment, ahm Family Extras or Super Extras may be better options – they cost more but offer higher benefit limits. Compare more ahm policies.

ahm's extras policies are the only extras policies on the market to permanently offer a no waiting period benefit for general dental and optical.

With all other policies, this option is sometimes available as a special offer and often has certain conditions – for example, you typically need to take out hospital cover as well.

While ahm (which is part of Medibank) was hit by a major cyber attack last year, exposing the data of millions of its customers, we still decided to select it as our top pick. There is simply no other fund that comes with a no waiting period option as good as ahm. It has also taken several steps to safeguard customers.

• HBF won Best Health Fund of the Year at the 2023 Finder Awards, scoring more points than any other fund due to its high-value policies. It remains competitive on price, scoring highly despite raising premiums on 1 April (more on this below).
• Its Bronze Hospital Plus was highly commended at the 2023 Finder Awards. The not-for-profit's policy covers 26 hospital treatments, well above the minimum legal requirement of 18. Flex 50, HBF's flexible extras cover, placed top in the Medium Extras category. Flex 50 lets you use the services relevant to you. For example, you might use the $800 limit on physiotherapy or $400 on dental implants and $400 on psychology.
• HCF has the second-highest member retention rate (92.3%) across the 5 major health funds, according to the latest State of the Health Funds report. HBF's rate was well above the industry average of 86.53%, suggesting members are happy with the services.
• HBF was the first major health fund to raise its prices for 2023. Most insurers delayed annual increases until later in the year. Keep this in mind if you're comparing HBF with other leading funds. Medibank, nib, HCF and Bupa are all increasing their rates in the coming months.

We selected HBF's Bronze Hospital Plus policy because it was highly commended for Best Bronze Hospital at the 2023 Finder Awards, as well as winning Best Basic Hospital and also highly commended in Best Silver Hospital. No other health fund appeared 3 times across the 4 hospital categories, which underscores the quality of its core hospital policies.

Our experts noted that HBF performed well against competitors in the latest State of the Health Funds report. For example, HBF offers the most no-gap services (92.80%) of the 5 major health funds in Australia.

It scored comparatively highly in other categories including its member retention rate, which indicates the fund is good at looking after its customers.

Furthermore, HBF was also recognised as a winner of Roy Morgan's award for Most Trusted Private Health Insurance for 2022. It was the first time the awards had been run and HBF scored the highest in trust out of more than 20 funds.

Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

To be eligible for Finder Awards, policies needed to be available to purchase in April 2023 from a non-restricted provider with at least a 0.5% national market share.

• Won Best Gold Hospital policy at the 2023 Finder Awards, meaning it offers better value than any of the 26 other top-tier policies we analysed. Our analysis had a particular focus on pricing, as gold cover has mandatory cover for pregnancy and childbirth services. We analysed every state and territory's pricing.
• Birth through the private system is expensive, with frequent out-of-pocket costs. With Australian Unity, 92% of treatment have no gap payments. This is higher than Medibank (85.5%).

• You can lower your premiums by choosing a $100 per day hospital co-payment. For longer stays, this will cost you more.

Hospital

We chose Australian Unity's Prime Hospital (Gold) policy because it won the 2023 Finder Award for Best Gold Hospital Insurance policy.

Australian Unity's policy covers all 38 available treatments and had had a higher score than all other gold-level hospital policies, meaning it was the best value policy, according to our detailed methodology.

• On HBF's Silver Hospital policy, 92.8% of hospital services have no gap (out-of-pocket costs), according to the latest Ombudsman report. That's more than all 22 other open membership insurers, including the 4 major funds (Bupa, HCF, Medibank and nib).
• No fund covers more hospital-related charges than HBF. HBF covers 94.4% of hospital-related charges, which includes accommodation and theatre costs. It was matched only by ACA Health Benefits, which is a smaller, restricted fund.
• HBF won highly commended for Best Silver Hospital at the 2023 Finder Awards. The only comparable policy to score higher was HCF's Hospital Standard Silver Plus.

• While HBF covers the full cost of 92.8% of hospital services, rt health had the highest overall percentage (93.5%) from 48 health funds we looked at.

We've chosen HBF's Silver Hospital policy as our top pick for no gap services as, according to the latest State of the Health Funds Report, it has the highest percentage of no gap services (92.8%) out of 23 open membership insurers. Furthermore, no other fund than HBF covers more hospital-related charges.

The Silver Hospital plan was selected because it was BHF's best scoring silver-tier hospital policy in the 2023 Finder Awards. The policies that scored the highest in the awards represent the best value to consumers.

Average prices are updated monthly when we update Finder's database of health insurance policies. Prices are based on a single individual with less than $90,000 income, $750 excess and living in Sydney.

To be eligible for Finder Awards, policies needed to be available to purchase in April 2023 from a non-restricted provider with at least a 0.5% national market share.