What’s the best health insurance for single parents in Australia? 

Being a single parent can mean needing to keep an extra tight grip on your finances. Regardless of whether or not you have a co-parent contributing to household costs, health insurance will be one of your larger expenses as a single parent. For that reason, you’ll want to get the best health insurance for single parents to cover you and your children’s healthcare costs.  

Some single parent health insurance policies can be pricey – in fact, we calculated that the most expensive Gold tier policy (Combined Hospital and Extras) for a single parent in New South Wales was $1,302 a month. But there are savings to be made if you use our Calculator, with the cheapest Gold policy (Combined Hospital and Extras) in NSW around $409.64 a month (a difference that adds up to a whopping $10,708.32 of savings a year!).  

Here’s everything you need to know to find the best health insurance for single parents. 

Why do I need a single parent health insurance policy? 

Having private health insurance as a single parent means both you and your children will be able to skip waiting lists and get private hospital treatment quickly if anyone becomes sick or gets injured, and if they need to stay overnight, they’re more likely to have their own hospital room. If, for example, your child needs a tonsillectomy – one of the most common elective surgeries for Aussie kids – they could be waiting an average of 121 days for treatment in the public system. But having Hospital Cover means your child can go to a private hospital and get treated more quickly.  

If you have Extras Cover, you’ll be covered for some, or all, common children’s healthcare costs such as dental treatments (general dental, major dental, dental surgery), braces (orthodontics), glasses (optical) and speech therapy.  

What does Hospital Cover include? What about Extras Cover – and do I need both?

On a financial level, it’s worthwhile having Hospital Cover if you earn more than $194,000, so you can avoid paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) at tax time. 

Speaking of income, if you earn $302,000 or less as a single parent, you’re eligible for the Private Health Insurance Rebate, which will bring down the cost of your premiums by up to 32.812%. That income threshold increases by $1,500 for every child you have after the first one, so it’s worth checking your Private Health Insurance Rebate eligibility.

How do I choose the best health insurance for single parents in Australia?  

First of all, consider what types of healthcare you’ll need covered. For example, many parents like having General Dental cover (which is included in Extras Cover, not Hospital Cover) to save money on their kids’ dental appointments. Make sure you check the policy limits and Gaps – some single parent policies provide no-Gap dental policies, which means the entire cost of dental appointments is covered by your insurer.  

What is a Gap?

Check the excess, too. Some hospital policies don’t have an excess for children, which means you could choose a higher excess for yourself and save money on premiums, while still having zero excess for your children. But remember that your excess needs to be $1,500 or lower to avoid paying the MLS at tax time.  

You also need to consider how long your children will be covered by your policy. Some insurers will cover dependants until the age of 31 as long as they’re single, however if they’re not in full-time study there may be an increase to your premiums. 

Are my adult children covered? 

How much does health insurance cost for single parents? 

The cost of policies for single parents can vary widely. In some cases the cost of a policy for one adult with children can be double the cost of one adult with no children, meaning you could end up paying effectively the same for your child(ren) as you would if you were adding an adult to your policy. Plus, with some insurers it can be more expensive for a single parent policy than a policy that covers 2 adults and their children. The good news is, the premium won’t increase based on the number of children you have. 

For those reasons, you really need to do your homework to find the best deal. Thankfully, healthslips.com.au makes it easy to compare every policy from all 48 health insurance providers to find the best value cover – and you don’t have to enter any contact details. Even better, we guarantee you the cheapest price, and as you can see from this table, there’s a huge difference in prices available. 

SINGLE PARENT POLICY PRICE COMPARISONS 

Combined Hospital and Extras Cover in NSW, excess up to $750, including open and restricted insurers  

Compare your health insurance policy with others on the market, or find a new policy.

Trudie McConnochie

Writer and Researcher

Knowledge is power – that’s the guiding principle behind everything Trudie writes, and it’s a philosophy she brings to her work at healthslips.com.au. By breaking down complex information into easy-to-understand blogs and stories, she aims to empower Australians to make the best choices and an informed decision around private health insurance.

Trudie understands firsthand some of the complexity of private health insurance having moved to Australia from New Zealand and having to navigate a vastly different public healthcare system and health insurance structure.

Trudie holds a Bachelor of Communication Studies (journalism major) from the Auckland University of Technology.

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