How does private health insurance work?

Private health insurance works on the basis that you take out a policy and pay an insurer a monthly premium. 

In return, the insurer provides you with health cover.

Depending on the policy you take out, private health insurance helps you pay for:

• Hospital Cover (treatment in hospital as a private patient)
• Extras Cover (medical costs that Medicare does not cover)
• Ambulance Only Cover.

If you want both Hospital Cover and Extras Cover, you can take out Combined Hospital and Extras policies, or mix and match separate policies to meet your needs.