Accessing the mental health waiver

What is the mental health waiver?

The Mental Health Waiver allows Australians who have held any level of hospital cover for 2 months to immediately upgrade. This is available once per lifetime in order to immediately access cover for psychiatric care in a private hospital. 

Eligibility for the mental health waiver

To upgrade hospital cover to a policy that includes inpatient psychiatric treatment (usually a Gold or Silver Plus level of cover) by using the one-off waiver, you must: 

• have held a hospital cover with restricted hospital psychiatric services for at least two months
• have not previously used the waiver 

Please note that as of 1 April 2026, Frank Gold level hospital cover is no longer available to new members. You can still access the mental health waiver by upgrading to a  policy that includes psychiatric clinical category cover with another fund. If this impacts you or you would like to see what options are available to you, please get in touch. 

Further information can be found: 

• Mental Health Treatment and Private Health Insurance | Commonwealth Ombudsman 

• Waiting periods and exemptions | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 

How can I upgrade my cover to use the mental health waiver?

To access the mental health waiver, you’ll need to upgrade with another fund to a hospital policy that is open to new members and includes the ‘Hospital psychiatric services’ clinical category.  

The Private Health Insurance Ombudsman has a simple, independent comparison tool to help you compare all health insurance products from Australian health funds: search and compare Gold Hospital policies. 

What happens if I leave Frank?

Australian private health insurance is governed by portability rules under the Private Health Insurance Act 2007. These rules help protect you if you change funds. 

This means: 

• waiting periods you’ve already served are recognised by your new fund
• you won’t need to re‑serve waiting periods for the same level of cover 

Most of the time, there’s very little you need to do. Once you join a new fund, they will let us know you’ve switched to their fund and request that we close your membership. We will then share a clearance certificate that confirms the details of the cover you’ve held with Frank. This helps your new fund apply the portability rules correctly.  

If you need a clearance certificate quickly, you can contact Frank directly to request one.  

If you or someone you know needs urgent help please contact  Lifeline on 13 11 14.