In October 2013 the authors of www.457visacompared.com.au made an exclusive comparison of 457 visa health insurance policies.
The full report and analysis for families found that:
1) Family health insurance cost’s almost exactly the same as couples cover (which is twice the cost of singles)
This means essentially children are covered for free under the policy
2) That 457 visa health funds can differ on how many children they will cover under a policy (making it essential to check policies for large families before signing up for that fund)
3) That 457 visa health firms can have specific rules for older dependent’s (eg students at universities)
The overall findings was that is you believe 457 visa health insurance is good value for a single, its even better value for a family!
You can read the full article with analysis here.
What the report does not discuss is the exact options available by the give leading health funds that offer 457 visa health insurance. Several comparisons were done over 2013 and found that IMAN was the best cover for budget family 457 visa health cover with their policy costing $187.98 per month. While HIF was cheaper at $164.45 they didn’t include outpatient cover and if you get treated hospital you can only be in a shared room which can be real issue for parents if their child is hurt or sick. IMAN has the most favoured reviews from current and past policy holders which was another key element considered.
The same recommendation was made for those families looking for cover with a few more features but when it came to top level family 457 visa health insurance the recommendation was Australian Unity. The ‘workers cover plus with extra’s was the author’s preferred policy as you can claim up to $6k in extra’s and all top hospital cover options are available. In fact, the only negative of their policy relative to the other top family covers was the $20k limit on medical preparation cover that existed. Australian unity are one of Australia’s oldest companies and have a range of services outside of health insurance such as health care facilities.