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LoansCredit CardsA combined policy bundles a hospital tier and an extras package together, with one fund, one premium and one renewal date. It is how most Australian households hold their cover.
Bundling is often cheaper than buying the two components separately, and it is certainly simpler to administer. The trade-off is that you are choosing one fund for two quite different products, and few funds are equally strong at both.
Funds discount combined policies because it is cheaper to service one member with two products than two members with one each. The saving is real but not automatic. Price the same hospital tier and a comparable extras package separately at two or three funds and compare against the bundled premium — occasionally a strong hospital policy at one fund plus a strong extras policy at another beats any single bundle, even before the discount.
Bundles are built to hit a price point, which usually means one half is stronger than the other. A well-priced Silver hospital tier is often paired with a thin extras package, or a generous extras package with a Bronze hospital tier that leaves gaps. Assess each half on its own merits and ignore the combined headline price until you have.
The hospital half is tiered and standardised across the industry; the extras half is not. Waiting periods run separately for each. Excess applies only to the hospital side. Annual limits apply only to the extras side. It is one premium but effectively two products, and switching later means moving both at once.
Usually, because funds discount bundled policies. But not always by enough to beat the best standalone policy in each category. It is worth pricing both ways once, then re-checking at renewal.
Yes, that is perfectly allowed and sometimes better value. You will manage two policies, two renewal dates and two sets of waiting periods, so weigh the admin against the saving.
No. An excess applies only to hospital admissions. Extras claims are governed by annual limits and benefit rates instead.
Medicare Levy Surcharge thresholds and government rebate percentages are reviewed regularly, so this page does not quote them. For the current figures see the ATO and the government's privatehealth.gov.au.
