Private Health Funds: Australian Unity
Australian Unity have been around for 175 years and offer health care, financial services and retirement living services to over 850 000 Australians. Unlike many other health funds, they are a mutual company and were formed by their members for the benefit of other members. They currently have 30 000 members. Their approach to health care is that “prevention is better than a cure” and they have a strong commitment to helping their members to stay healthy.
- Members can choose the Extras provider of their choice.
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Members with dental cover can benefit from No Gap Dental Cover, and access preventative dental services (such as examinations, scales and cleans, x rays and topical fluoride treatments) free of charge, subject to annual limits. Members need to use No Gap Dental providers to take advantage of this.
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As part of their commitment to helping their members to be healthy, Australian Unity offer various health support programs, including those for Bone Health, Diabetes, Healthy Heart, Vascular Health, Heart Failure, Risk Factor Management, Integrated Care, baby+me® and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. These are available on certain policies.
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The Hospital Care at Home service is available on members on certain policies and is designed to help members to reduce the length of time they stay in hospital (or to keep out of hospital altogether) where their treatment could be delivered at home instead.
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The Rehabilitation at Home service is available to members on certain policies and is designed to help members to recover at home.
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Australian Unity offer unique Lifestyle Packages to reward members in staying fit and healthy.
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There is no hospital excess for children, and they can be covered on their parents’ policy until the age of twenty-three.
There are 5 tiers of hospital cover:
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Basic Hospital includes joint reconstructions but has lots of exclusions. Psychiatric and rehabilitation services are restricted. Hospital Care at Home and Rehabilitation at Home are included.
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Mid Hospital is slightly broader but still excludes pregnancy and fertility services, joint replacements, eye surgery and dialysis. Heart services are included, as is rehabilitation, Hospital at Home and Rehabilitation at Home. Psychiatric services are restricted.
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Mid Hospital With Pregnancy includes pregnancy services (including a midwife in a private practice), heart-related services and rehab but still excludes fertility services, joint replacements, eye surgery, Hospital At Home and Rehabilitation at Home and dialysis. Psychiatric services are restricted.
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Gold Hospital is similar to Mid Hospital With Pregnancy but does not include pregnancy and fertility services. It includes heart services, joint replacements, rehabilitation, eye procedures, Hospital at Home and Rehabilitation at Home. Psychiatric services are still restricted on this cover level.
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Platinum Hospital is the broadest option and has no exclusions. Hospital At Home and Rehabilitation at Home are included.
Extras Cover
Members can get money back on popular extras with the Starter 60% policy. This includes popular Extras services such as general and preventative dental, optical and physio. As a basic Extras policy, it has low annual limits.
Starter 60% With Smile offers 60% back on popular Extras such as general and preventative dental, major dental, orthodontics, optical and physio, and is more geared towards those wanting good dental cover than Starter 60%. The annual limits are therefore more generous for dental services than for optical and physio but are relatively low on the whole.
Starter 60% With Health Boost offers 60% back on a range of popular Extras such as general dental, optical, physio, natural therapies, dietetics, psychology, pharmacy, travel vaccinations, hearing aids and health devices. The annual limits here are on the low side.
Comprehensive Extras is much broader than Starter 60% and includes general dental, major dental, orthodontics, optical, physio, chiro and osteo, natural therapies, remedial massage, dietetics, speech and eye therapy, podiatry, psychology, pharmacy, travel vaccinations, hearing aids, health aids and health devices. The annual limits are more generous than Starter 60% but are still relatively low.
Platinum 80% offers 80 per cent back on extras and is Australian Unity’s most comprehensive extras policy. It includes a wide range of Extras services such as general and preventative dental, major dental, orthodontics, optical, physio, chiro and osteo, natural therapies, remedial massage, dietetics, speech and eye therapy, podiatry, psychology, pharmacy, travel vaccinations, hearing aids, health aids and health devices. The annual limits here are much more generous than the Starter 60% policy.
Combination Cover
Hospital and extras cover can be combined to offer various tiers of cover. Basic Hospital can be mixed with Starter 60% for basic combination cover while Platinum Hospital can be combined with Platinum 80% extras cover for the broadest combination, for example.
There are also various pre-packaged combination options:
Smart Combination is a relatively broad level of hospital and extras cover and includes heart-related services, psychiatric (restricted), rehabilitation, hip and knee replacements and eye procedures in a private hospital and pregnancy services in a public hospital only. It also includes Hospital at Home and Rehabilitation at Home services. For Extras, it includes general and major dental, optical, physio, chiro and osteo, natural therapies and travel vaccinations. Annual limits are on the low side but are generally the most generous of the combination packages.
Smart Essentials is a mid-level combination package and includes heart-related services, psychiatric (restricted) and rehabilitation. For extras, it covers general and major dental, physio, chiro, optical, natural therapies and remedial massage. Hospital at Home and Rehabilitation at Home are included.
Smart Start is a basic combination package. It is accident-only hospital cover in a private hospital, plus psychiatric services (restricted), heart-related services (restricted), rehablitation (restricted), eye procedures (restricted) and hip and knee replacements (restricted) in a public hospital only. It includes low-level extras such as general dental, physio, chiro, optical and some natural therapies.
Care ‘n’ Repair is budget combination package. It is accident-only private hospital cover, plus heart-related services (restricted), psychiatric services (restricted), rehabilitation (restricted) , eye procedures (restricted) and sterilisations in a public hospital only. Extras-wise, it includes general dental, major dental, physio, health aids and some natural therapies.
They also offer Lifestyle Packages, which are unique to Australian Unity:
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Active Lifestyle – Members can get refunds on gym memberships, personal training sessions, group exercise classes, sports gear and equipment and cycling equipment.
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Cosmetic Lifestyle – Members can get refunds on skin treatments, tattoo removals, hair removal, laser eye surgery and spa treatments.
Claims can be made at-the-point-service, online, by phone, by email, by post or fax or via Australian Unity’s iPhone and Android apps. Claims of up to $300 are processed straight away, with receipts to follow.
Members can claim refunds for Lifestyle Packages via the Online Member Service and upload receipts via this method. Applications for refunds can also be posted or faxed.
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Members can receive 10 per cent discounts on Australian Unity home and contents, car, travel and landlords insurance products.
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The Wellplan Rewards feature also offers discounts on health and lifestyle related products and services, plus movie tickets.
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Members can receive 25 per cent off glasses in Eyecare Advantage stores (located in NSW, QLD and VIC) thanks to their partnership with Australian Unity.
Australian Unity are based in South Melbourne, VIC. They have Australian Unity Dental Centres in Melbourne, South Melbourne, Box Hill and Rowville. However, members are from across the country. You do not need to be in Victoria to become a member.
Address
114 Albert Road
South Melbourne
VIC 3205
Phone: 13 29 39
Email: healthcover@australianunity.com.au
Website: http://www.australianunity.com.au
