The Nurses and Midwives Fund (often known as NMW) is a non-profit fund, established in 2016 by Teachers’ Health exclusively for members of nursing and midwifery unions and their families.
As the only health fund solely for nurses and midwives, NMW is able to thoroughly tailor their policies for its membership. Members can also use Teachers Health Centres across Australia.
Nobody chooses to go to hospital. But when you do, appropriate hospital cover will help you get the treatment you need, where and when you want it. It also helps to pay the bills, as fees for hospital rooms and specialists can add up.
Think about what services you’re likely to need, in line with your budget. If you earn over $90,000 individually or $180,000 as a couple, taking out appropriate hospital cover may avoid paying the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
NMW offers 5 types of hospital cover, ranging from two Basic plans that cover the essentials, to the comprehensive Gold Hospital plan.
All hospital plans include emergency and non-emergency ambulance transport.
Emergency ambulance cover is included in all hospital and extras cover. Non-emergency ambulance transport is included in all hospital policies.
From dental, to optical, to chiro and more, extras insurance helps cover the bills for routine treatments with rebates of up to 100%.
While we’ve summarised the key points of each plan below, it’s always worth digging a little deeper into any gap fees, how much you can claim back, and whether your preferred healthcare provider, such as your local dentist, has an agreement with the health fund.
Take the time to work out what you need and what you’re prepared to pay. If this feels a bit overwhelming, you can speak to one of our experts who can talk you through what’s included in each extras policy.
NMW offers two extra plans which we’ve detailed below. Both plans include 100% benefits for Healthy Lifestyle services, including weight management, eligible gym memberships and health screenings.
Waiting periods are there to stop people from signing up, claiming and then cancelling their cover. It means once you take out a new plan, you’ll have to wait a certain amount of time before receiving your benefit.
When you switch to NMW from another provider, you won’t have to re-serve your waiting periods, unless your new policy covers something you didn’t have before or has improved annual extras benefits and/or limits.
NMW have six dedicated health centres across NSW, VIC and SA, providing dental and optical services to members. You will receive two fully covered preventative dental check-ups each year when you use one of NMW’s health centres.
Some of the members-only offers available at these centres include 50% off optical frames, 25% off sunglasses and contact lenses, no gap frame and lens packages and free retinal photo and OCT scans.
You will also have access to a range of support under the Teachers Healthcare Services team, such as mental health support, pregnancy programs, and more.
Hospital
Simply tell the hospital you are a member of a NMW policy. Your hospital account will be sent directly to NMW for them to assess on your behalf.
Extras
You can swipe your membership card to claim directly on the spot with your provider’s HICAPS terminal.
You can also claim via the NMW claiming app, or fill out the claim form and send it via email or mail.
NMW has agreements with a large number of hospital and day surgery providers across Australia.
When comparing policies, it’s worth checking if your preferred local hospitals and clinics are covered. Our specialists at Health Insurance Comparison can do this for you.
From 1 January to 31 March 2020, the Private Health Ombudsman received just 2 complaints from NMW members. NMW has a market share of 0.1%.
Source: Private Health Ombudsman
Nurses and Midwives Health is a restricted fund. You can only join NMW if you’re a current or former member of a nursing or midwives union and are currently working, or have previously worked, in any of these roles:
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