Frank health insurance review

Who is behind Frank

Frank isn't a separate registered insurer. PrivateHealth.gov.au lists Frank Health Insurance as a brand of GMHBA Limited, a mutual organisation that operates on a not-for-profit basis. Your policy, the fund rules and any complaint go through GMHBA. That also means your waiting periods transfer between Frank and GMHBA policies in the usual way when you switch.

Frank vs GMHBA: one insurer, two product ranges

Frank and GMHBA are the same insurer selling two ranges. In the Government's data for policies open to new members at 1 October 2026, Frank's eight hospital policies ran from Basic to Silver Plus, all at a $750 excess, while GMHBA's own range added Gold and a $500 excess option. Pregnancy and birth was covered on Frank Silver Plus Max Hospital and on GMHBA's two Gold policies, and on none of the others.

Waiting periods and eligibility at Frank

Anyone in Australia can join Frank: GMHBA is an open fund that sells in every state and territory. Frank's hospital policies carry the standard waits in the Government's data at 1 October 2026: 12 months for pre-existing conditions, 2 months for psychiatric, rehabilitation and palliative care and for other treatment, and 12 months for pregnancy and birth on the one policy that covers it. Accidents after you join usually have no wait.

On Frank's extras, the standard waits were 2 months for general dental and physio, 6 months for optical, and 12 months for major dental and orthodontics. If you're switching from another fund at the same or a lower level of cover, the waits you've served carry across. For children on a family policy, GMHBA's record lists dependants up to age 24, whether or not they're studying.

What Frank sells

At 1 October 2026 Frank's open hospital policies covered Basic (an accident-focused policy), Basic Plus, Bronze, Bronze Plus and Silver, plus Silver Plus, including 'Max' versions of Bronze Plus and Silver Plus. There was no Frank-branded Gold policy: for Gold you would need a GMHBA policy or another fund. Every Frank hospital policy carried a $750 excess, which is within the Medicare Levy Surcharge limit for a single policy. Frank policies were listed with the age-based discount for people who join aged 18 to 29, and include emergency ambulance.

One consequence of the single excess level: if you want a lower excess to reduce what you pay on admission, Frank's range won't offer it, though GMHBA's will.

Is Frank health insurance good? What the official data shows

We don't give a verdict, because whether Frank suits you depends on the policy and what it covers. These are the official measures, which cover GMHBA including Frank. In 2024-25 GMHBA accounted for 1.8% of Ombudsman complaints about insurers on a 2.1% market share, fewer than its size would predict, and none of its complaints went to investigation.

On the other measures it was below the industry: retention was 79.9% (industry 85.0%), benefits paid were 81.9% of premiums (industry 84.5%) and management expenses were 14.5% (industry 10.9%). 86.3% of in-hospital medical services had no gap, close to the industry's 87.1%. The table further down has every figure.