Choosing Hospital Cover
Different options for different needs
What is Hospital Cover?
Hospital cover is exactly what it sounds like: insurance that helps to cover your costs in hospital. With hospital cover you’re covered for things like treatment, accommodation and nursing care.
How much of your expenses are paid depends on your level of cover, the procedure or care given, and the hospital you choose to stay in.
Hospital cover doesn't cover you for services received outside of a hospital like a visit to your GP, dentist or new glasses. Things like x-rays, where you aren't admitted as an inpatient to hospital (even if they're done in a hospital building) also aren’t covered.
What Hospital Cover is best for me?
Before taking out hospital cover, work out exactly why you want it. Are you looking for entry level cover and happy to exclude services to keep the price down or do you want peace of mind knowing that you’re covered for whatever life might throw at you?
Frank has a range of hospital covers across different price levels. If one cover is cheaper than another, it’s because it excludes treatments or services that cost more than others. Always check the exclusion list on a product and decide how important the treatment or service is to you.
Compare Frank hospital covers below
Legend
Service or treatment type is covered in a private hospital or in a public hospital as a private patient
Service or treatment type is partially covered
Service or treatment type is excluded
Additional important product information
| Basic Hospital More info | Basic Hospital + some private More info | Better Hospital (no Co-Payment) More info | Max Hospital More info | Top Hospital More info | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital expenses covered | ||||||
| Public hospital accommodation | ||||||
| Private hospital accommodation | ||||||
| Shared room | ||||||
| Private room | ||||||
| Doctors' expenses covered All medically necessary inpatient services are covered unless listed as an exclusion below | ||||||
| Eye surgery | ||||||
| Cosmetic surgery | ||||||
| Dental implants | ||||||
| Insulin pumps | ||||||
| Joint replacement | ||||||
| Pregnancy | Optional | |||||
| Reproductive services | Optional | |||||
| Dialysis | ||||||
| Weight loss surgery | ||||||
| Spinal surgery | ||||||
| Neurostimulators | ||||||
| Psychiatric | ||||||
Do I have to pay an excess?
Yes. If you are admitted to hospital, you will have to pay an excess directly to the hospital upon admission. An excess helps with the cost of your admission and by having an excess, the amount you pay for your cover is lower.
This amount will vary based on the cover you select.
Can I get more information about fees?
Of course. There is more information about hospital fees, doctors’ fees, gap and all the nitty gritty if you’re admitted to hospital. Find out more about fees and how they work here.
Will I have to wait before I claim?
Yes, particularly if you’re new to health insurance. With our covers (and most other health insurers) you have to wait a specific amount of time between signing up and making your first claim. This is called a waiting period.
On some procedures, there is a period after the waiting period during which insurers will pay benefits at a lower rate. This is called a benefit limitation period. It’s pretty confusing though, so if you’re unsure, call us.
Waiting periods and benefit limitations periods may not apply if you are switching from another fund.
The following table shows the waiting periods and benefit limitation periods that apply.
| Frank's Hospital cover waiting periods and benefit limitation periods | |
|---|---|
| 24 months | Benefit Limitation Periods apply to gastric banding and all obesity surgeries or renal dialysis (that means you're covered but for public hospital benefits in a shared room after your other waiting periods have been served) |
| 12 months | Pregnancy and pre-existing conditions (except psychiatric, rehab or palliative care) |
| 2 months | Psychiatric, rehab or palliative care and any other hospital treatment |
| 1 day | Accidents |
Find out more about waiting periods and benefit limitation periods.
Are there services Frank won’t pay on?
Yes there are. It might make us sound mean, but if you have a read, you'll see they're fair. Read the full list of things Frank won’t pay on.
Important
The cover information on this page should be read and retained.