Australia's leading 457 visa resource comparing key services from 457 visa health insurance to bank accounts.
Australian Unity 457 Health Insurance
Australian Unity is one of Australia’s oldest companies trading for over 170 years. It offers a range of financial services and is one of the largest Australian providers of overseas visitor health insurance.
Why Choose Australian Unity For 457 Health Insurance?
1) Price
Australian Unity has the fourth lowest price for a budget workers cover policy. This cover option also meets all necessary visa requirements, making it ideal for 457 visa holders visiting/working within Australia.
A key reason that Australian Unity can offer such a low ‘entry level’ overseas visitor health cover is because they are a Members Own Health Fund.
This means they don’t need to make profits for shareholders.
2) Policy Flexibility
Unlike most other 457 visa health insurance policies, Australian Unity allows overseas visitors to mix and match their hospital and extras cover.
In simple terms, health insurance for 457 visa holders is split into two categories:
Hospital Cover
This is the compulsory element that you must have to satisfy condition 8501 showing you have adequate health insurance. It covers you when your sick or injured and need to visit a hospital.
Extras Cover
This is additional cover for items most overseas visitors claim regularly such as visits to a dentist, optometrist or physio. The costs for these services are not covered under hospital cover.
3) No Hospital Excess
Australian Unity Budget Workers Cover (their lowest priced policy) has no excess so their is no upfront costs when visiting a hospital.
While there is no excess, there may be out-of-pocket fees for a hospital visit. For example, Australian Unity will only cover you for the same rate that Medicare offers (know as the MBS rate) for doctors fees. Many doctors fees though are higher then this MBS rate which means that patient needs to pay the difference.
You are also not covered for out-of-hospital doctor and specialist fees or out-of-hospital pharmacy fees.
Disadvantages Of Australian Unity’s 457 Visa Cover
1) No Private Hospital Cover
Australian Unity’s budget worker cover does not offer private hospital cover.
This means you must be treated in a public hospital which may not have the same level of facilities as a private hospital. If this is important you either need to purchase “workers cover plus” or choose Frank which cost $75 per month.
2) No Option For A Private Room
There are no Australian Unity 457 health insurance policies that guarantee your stay will be in a private room. This means you may need to share a room with up to five other patients.
If having the option of a private room is important for you (especially when your sick or injured) Frank Health Insurance is a better option.
3) Limited Medical Repatriation Cover
Australian Unity has a relatively low medical repatriation limit on their overseas visitor health insurance range of up to $20,000 per membership.
This means that if your sick or injured and need to be medically repatriated back to your home country the policy will help towards the cost of up to $20,000. This amount is lower then some other Australian overseas visitor health insurance companies.
Who Is Australian Unity’s 457 Health Cover Best Suited To?
Australian Unity is a perfect choice for those overseas working visitors that:
- Want a price competitive policy
- Want to mix and match their policy to suit them (hospital + extras)
- Don’t mind being treated in a public hospitals (not private)
- Don’t mind sharing a room with other patients
Other Facts About Australian Unity
Australian Unity is one of the largest companies in Australia with over 1,805 employees, 92 locations and 320,000 members. The company in 2012/13 processed over $599,000,000 in health insurance benefits highlighting the sheer size of the company established over 170 years ago.
Australian Unity reviews are mixed on the leading review website product review with a total score of 1.9 from 32 reviews.
