RT Health Insurance Fund Review
RT Health Fund began well over 100 years ago. It came from humble beginnings: a group of railroad employees contributed into a fund that would help with costs if someone got hurt or fell ill. That fund, now known as RT health fund, became the first registered health fund in the country.
On the whole, not much has changed since the inception of RT Health (short for Railway and Transport Health Fund). They’re still a member-owned, not-for-profit health fund that serves the needs of those in the transport and energy industries. RT Health is a restricted membership fund, and is part of the Members Own group of health funds.
To be eligible to become a member of RT Health, you must be a current or former employee of one of the following:
- Government or privately operated land, sea or air transport company
- Government entity that administers the land, sea or air transport industries
- Government or privately operated energy generation and delivery entity
- Contract company employed to provide services to an organisation as described above
Current and former members of Railways Credit Union (now called MOVE) are also eligible to join RT Health. The fund also extends eligibility to certain family members of eligible individuals.
In the sections below, we take a closer look at what RT Health offers its members in terms of policies, rewards, and performance.
- RT Health is a restricted member-owned, non-profit health fund that offers affordable, straightforward health insurance policies.
- You can choose from five different hospital cover policies and three different extras cover policies from RT Health.
- While you can mix and match hospital and extras cover, RT does not sell any pre-packaged policies.
- RT Health is above the industry average in many categories according to the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO).
RT Health offers hospital and extras cover to their health insurance customers. Ahead, we’ll take a deeper look at their policies and what you can expect when shopping with RT Health.
Hospital Cover
There are five different hospital policies from RT Health Fund. These include First Start Hospital, Step Up Hospital, Smart Hospital, Premium Hospital, and Public Hospital.
Here’s a brief look at what you can expect when choosing each level of coverage.
- First Start Hospital: First Start Hospital is a basic level of cover designed for young, healthy people. This is often the policy that young Australians choose when purchasing hospital cover from RT Health for the first time.
- Step Up Hospital: As the name suggests, Step Up Hospital is a level above First Start Hospital. It’s still designed for those without any specific health issues but covers a wider range of benefits as a private patient in a public hospital. These include cardiac procedures, obstetrics, and assisted reproductive services.
- Smart Hospital: Smart hospital is comprehensive coverage that fits the needs of most people. The exclusions within this policy include joint replacement procedures, revisions and kidney dialysis. Psychiatric treatment is covered on a limited basis.
- Premium Hospital: Premium Hospital is the top option from RT Health Fund. It covers patients for everything for which Medicare pays benefits.
- Public Hospital: Public hospital is a comprehensive health insurance plan with no exclusions. You will be able to choose your doctor, but won’t be able to access treatment in a private hospital. This is best for individuals and families who want a full range of cover but don’t mind visiting public hospitals.
Extras Cover
You have three levels of extras cover to choose from with RT Health. These are Value, Smart, and Premium Extras. Each has varying levels of extras cover, as you can see in the table below.
Premium Extras offers similar coverage as Smart Extras but with higher annual limits on rt health fund dental, optical, and more. It is also the only policy that covers orthodontics.
The Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) logs complaints and performance from different health funds in Australia. Here’s some of the relevant information they gathered after completing their RT Health fund review.
- Hospital Related Charges Covered
rt health: 90.57%
Industry average: 91.06% - Medicare Services with No Gaps
rt health: 89.9% average
Industry average: 86.6% - Medicare Services with No or Known Gap
rt health: 98.26%
Industry average: 94.88% - General Treatment Covered
rt health: 48.35%
Industry average: 53.52%
Source: https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/dynamic/Insurer/Details/SLM
Making an RT health fund claim is relatively straightforward. They don’t offer multiple channels to make your claim through, however.
To get started, you need to compile your documents and member information and fill out a claim form. You can download the RT health fund claim form here.
Send your completed claim form and a copy of the receipt to RT Health in one of the following ways:
- Email: help@rthealthfund.com.au
- Fax: 1300 887 123
- Post: PO Box 545 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
- In person: at one an RT member care centre
RT Health Fund is a not-for-profit fund, so there aren’t any flashy member rewards like some of the other health funds offer. Instead, RT Health provides its customers with straightforward, comprehensive policies and affordable premiums.
RT Health has three locations:
- RT Health Surry Hills, Sydney
- RT Health Charlestown, Newcastle
- RT Health Brisbane, Queensland
The Surry Hills location has a Healthy Eyes clinic and Healthy Teeth clinic. The Charlestown location has a Healthy Eyes clinic, and the Brisbane location has a Healthy Teeth clinic.
You can also contact RT Health Fund by:
- Phone: 1300 886 123
- Email: help@rthealthfund.com.au
- Post: RT Health FundPO Box 545
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012
