Changing your excess: How to reduce the cost of your health insurance premium

At nib, we’re committed to helping you reduce the cost of your health insurance. One way to do this is by adjusting your health insurance excess. For our Australian Resident Health Insurance members, we offer the option to increase your excess limit to $750 for singles or $1,500 for couples or families, lowering your premium in the process.

So, if you’re with nib, you’ll be able to opt for a higher level of excess in return for a lower premium; however, if you’re with another health fund, this might not apply. 

To help you navigate all things excess, we’ve outlined some of the most frequently asked questions. 

Just like with your car or home insurance, an excess is an amount of money you agree to pay for a hospital stay, before health insurer benefits are payable. Generally speaking, choosing a higher excess means you’ll pay less for your health cover. 

Here’s how excess in health insurance works: if you choose an excess of $750 and need to make a hospital claim for $2,500, you’ll pay the first $750, and your insurer will cover the remaining $1,750. This excess is paid directly to the hospital before you receive treatment and only applies to hospital visits (it doesn’t affect Extras cover).

Excess payments are typically made once per person, per calendar year, although this can vary depending on your cover and your health fund. 

If you're an nib member with a family health insurance policy, excess payments are capped at twice the chosen level of excess.  For example, if you choose a $500 excess the maximum excess payment for families would be $1000 annually. However there is no excess for dependant children under 21 years of age.

Excess payments are capped at $750 per calendar year for nib members on a singles policy, and capped at $1500 for all other nib policy types.

To learn more, refer to your Policy Booklet or Fund Rules, or call us.

Do you have questions around your family’s policy? We’ve put together a family guide to health insurance.

If you’re looking for ways to lower your premium, increasing your excess is an option. By selecting a higher excess, like moving from $500 to $750, you’re agreeing to take on more of the hospital bill upfront. In return, your private health insurance premium will decrease.

While choosing a higher excess will lower your premium, a lower excess means you’ll pay more for your premiums, but you won’t have as much to pay if you’re admitted to the hospital. 

While there’s no way of predicting whether you’ll need to go to hospital, there are a few factors that can help you determine the right amount of excess you should pay.

You may want to consider a higher excess if you: 

• Are young and healthy 

• Have never been to hospital before 

• Think it’s unlikely that you’ll need to go to hospital 

• Can afford the upfront cost of a higher excess 

You might want to consider a lower excess if you: 

• Have a history of health concerns 

• Have made multiple hospital claims in the past 

• Think that you may need to go to hospital in the future 

• Can’t afford the upfront cost of a higher excess 

You can check your Hospital excess anytime by logging into your nib account online or through the nib App. For overseas student or worker members, contact us for details about your policy’s excess.

Your excess limit is selected when you purchase a health insurance policy. If you’re an nib member and you’d like to confirm your excess amount, you can do so by logging into member account or via the nib App.

Yes, you can change your excess at any time by logging into your member account or via the nib App. However, if you choose a lower excess, it's considered a cover upgrade. This means that you’ll have to re-serve waiting periods, and your previous higher excess will still apply during this time. A standard two month waiting period applies for sudden illness and a 12-month waiting period applies for any Pre-Existing Conditions^.

There are a number of different ways you can reduce the cost of your health insurance premium, from reviewing your cover to ensure you’re not paying for things you don’t need, to taking advantage of nib’s direct debit discount.

For other helpful tips on reducing the cost of your cover, check out our guide to saving money on your health insurance premium.