Basic Hospital
Basic Hospital
Basic Hospital
Basic Hospital is public hospital cover. If you’re looking to spend bare minimum on your hospital cover and aren’t hung up on star treatment, this policy could be for you.
What’s covered in a public hospital?
Basic Hospital provides benefits as a private patient in a public hospital for all procedures or services unless they are listed as an exclusion for the cover.
What’s excluded?
Taking out Frank’s Basic Hospital cover won’t give you benefits as a private patient in a public hospital or private hospital for the following services.
Can I get more information?
Frank has a lot more information about the specifics of cover. Find out more about hospital fees, doctor’s fees, gap and all the nitty gritty here.
A public hospital policy will cover you for treatment as a private patient in a public hospital. It’s important to remember that this policy won’t let you skip public hospital waiting lists and it won’t give you priority over public patients.
No, not with Frank’s Basic cover. Basic cover is public hospital cover. This means that your costs are covered for shared room accommodation in a public hospital, but not for a single room in a public hospital, or any room in a private hospital.
With Basic Hospital cover, staying in a single room in a public hospital or any room in a private hospital will result in significant out-of-pocket expenses.
If you do receive treatment in a private hospital, under this cover Frank will pay the minimum benefit (also known as the Commonwealth default rate) which is the lowest amount that a health insurer is permitted to pay for a hospital admission that is included on the policy. The minimum benefit is the same amount that a public hospital would charge a private patient for a shared room.
Yes, on most services you will have to serve a waiting period if you’re new to health insurance. With Frank (and most 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.
Basic Hospital has the following waiting periods:
- 0 days for hospital treatment as a result of an accident (accident must occur after joining) or for emergency ambulance transport
- 2 months for psychiatric, rehabilitation, palliative care and hospital services and procedures that are not pre-existing conditions
- 12 months for pregnancy services and pre-existing conditions
Find out more about waiting periods here.
The good news is that waiting periods may not apply if you’re coming to Frank from another fund. Find out more about switching to Frank here.
Yes. If you are admitted to hospital you will have to pay an excess. The most you will have to pay in excess per year is:
Single $500 per year
Couple / Family $500 per person up to a maximum of $1,000 per policy
You’ll still be covered, but there are special waiting periods for pre-existing conditions. For services that relate to your condition the waiting periods will be extended, generally to 12 months. Find out more about pre-existing conditions here.
All of Frank's hospital covers come with Gap Cover.
Every hospital procedure has a minimum benefit payable set by Medicare. This is called the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Fee. You always get 100% of this back if you have private health insurance. However, if your doctor charges more than this, Frank will cover you up to 120% of the MBS to help reduce your out of pocket costs. Anything your doctor charges above 120% of the scheduled fee is an out of pocket expense or known gap. You can check this amount with your doctor. Find out more about Gap Cover here.
Yes there are. This might make us sound mean but if you have a read, you'll see they're fair. If you’re interested, check out the list of things Frank won’t pay on here.
Important
Refer to the Basic Hospital fact sheet for full product information including excesses and waiting periods.
Information relating to this cover should be read and retained.