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Health Insurance for Couples
Why get couples' health cover?
Couples often choose to get private health insurance together for peace of mind. Together you can choose the benefits you want cover for, and cut down the hassle of managing two single health insurance policies. You only need to pay one premium, remember one policy number and claim on one policy.
Also, if you're planning to have children, couples' health cover can be crucial, as most low-cost singles' health insurance policies will not cover you for pregnancy and birth-related services, or assisted reproductive services.
The Medicare Levy Surcharge for couples
The Medicare Levy Surcharge is an extra 1% tax imposed on people who do not have Hospital Cover and earn a certain income. Currently for couples, this threshold is $140,000 combined (legislative changes pending). If you're earning over $140,000 together, taking our private health insurance is an easy way to get health cover and save on tax.
This threshold will increase by $1,500 for each dependent child after the first.
| Your family | MLS income threshold |
|---|---|
| Just you two | $140,000 |
| Plus one child | $140,000 |
| Plus two children | $141,500 |
| Plus three children | $143,000 |
| ... extra kids | +$1,500 per child |
Read more about the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
How Lifetime Health Cover affects couples
Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) is a Government initiative designed to encourage people to take out private Hospital Cover earlier in life, and maintain their cover throughout their lifetime. For every year that you do not have Hospital Cover after 1 July following your 31st birthday, 2% loading is added to your base rate premium. The LHC loading applies to Hospital Cover only, and does not affect the cost of your Extras Cover. Read more about LHC.
LHC can affect couples differently depending on whether each party has a loading applicable or not.
Both of you have had continuous Hospital Cover have no LHC loading
If both of you have had continuous Hospital Cover from 1 July following your 31st birthday, then switching to a couples' policy will not affect you at all. You will continue to pay the base rate premium (the lowest possible) for the private health insurance policy of your choice.
One of you has had continuous Hospital Cover but the other has a LHC loading
If one of you has no LHC loading but the other has, then the the premium you pay will average out the LHC loading between both parties.
To work out your combined loading, simply divide the applicable loading by two. For example, Sally has no LHC loading but Paul has a loading of 10%. Together, they will pay 5% loading on the base rate premium on the Hospital component of their chosen private health cover.
Both of you have LHC loadings
If both of you have LHC loadings, then the loading that is applicable to your health insurance premium is the average of the two LHC loadings combined.
For example, Jane has a loading of 6% and Tom has a loading of 8%. To work out the LHC loading on their couples' cover, they add their two LHC loadings together (6+8 = 14%) and divide it by two (14/2 = 7%). This means Jane and Tom will pay 7% LHC loading on top of the base rate premium of the Hospital component of their private health cover.
Keep in mind that all applicable loadings are removed if you keep continuous Hospital Cover for 10 years.
For further questions on choosing private health insurance or navigating our website, don't hesitate to call the Moneytime help desk on 1300 88 26 36 Monday-Friday between 8.30am to 5.30pm EST.