Australian Government rebate: A rebate offered by the Australian Government to help make private health insurance more affordable. If eligible, you can choose to reduce what you pay for health insurance now, or receive the rebate as a tax refund when you lodge your annual tax return. Your age and income affect the amount you’ll receive. Learn more. View your rebate tier.
Benefit replacement periods: Benefit replacement periods restrict how often you can purchase certain items. There are two types.
For dentures: After you purchase a set of dentures, you’ll have to wait a certain amount of time before you can purchase another.
For aids and devices: Your cover will specify a maximum dollar amount you can claim on each item over a certain number of calendar years. You may be able to claim multiple times within this amount (up to yearly limits); you’ll just have to wait until the end of the specified period for the limit to reset completely.
Check your Fact Sheet and Member Guide to learn more.
Combined limit: Some services in your health cover may be combined with others to give you a total amount of money you can claim on that group of services each calendar year. This is called a “combined limit” or a “combined maximum”. Learn more .
Date you’re paid to: This is the date your policy is paid to. You may claim up to—and including—this date. After that, you must make another payment to continue your health cover and be able to keep claiming.
Direct credit: When you’re entitled to be paid claims benefits, we’ll pay them into your nominated bank (or credit union) account. We sometimes refer to this process as “direct credit”. Tell us where to pay you for claims.
Direct debit: An ongoing automatic deduction from your nominated account. Manage or set up direct debit.
Direct payment: A payment that you make directly to Australian Unity. This includes payments made at Australia Post; via BPAY or Bill Express; or by post, phone or online.
Dishonoured payment: A payment that your financial institution returns to you unprocessed. This may happen for reasons such as: cancelled payment authority, expired credit card, closed account or invalid card number. If you have a question about a dishonoured payment, your financial institution is usually best placed to assist.
Family limit: A family limit is the maximum amount that all the members on a family cover can claim in a calendar year on a particular service or group of services. Family limits are shared by all the people on a membership. However, each person must stay within the per person limit (when it applies).
Family policy limit: A family policy limit is the maximum amount that all the members on a family cover can claim in a calendar year on a particular service or group of services. Family policy limits are shared by all the people on a membership. There are no per person limits. Note—some family policy limits increase over time. This means any new members to a policy may initially have lower limits than those already on it.
Funds transfer: A transfer of funds between two health memberships. This might occur if you have multiple policies and incorrectly make a payment to the wrong one.
Group payment: Contributions paid to Australian Unity on your behalf, by your employer.
Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) loading: A government surcharge that, if it applies, is added to your premium. The Australian Government introduced LHC loading to encourage more people to take out private hospital insurance at a younger age and to maintain it over time. Learn more.
Lifetime limit: Some services—like orthodontics—have a maximum amount you can claim in a lifetime. This is called a “lifetime limit” and will not reset, even if you move health insurers.
Medicare Levy surcharge: A government surcharge to encourage higher income earners to take out private hospital cover (to avoid the surcharge). The surcharge is between 1% to 1.5% of annual income and, if it applies, is collected by the government at tax time. Learn more.
Next payment date: This is the date Australian Unity will take the next payment out of your account.
Payment adjustment[JS8]: It is sometimes necessary for us to adjust the date your membership is paid to. These adjustments can either move the date forward or backward, depending on whether the cost of your policy increased or decreased. For example, if you change your level of cover, we will adjust the date paid to according to the contributions you have already made.
Per person limit: A per person limit is the maximum amount that each person on a family membership can claim for a particular service or group of services. Claims must also be within the family limit (when it applies).
Rebate tier: Most Australians with private health insurance receive a rebate from the Australian Government. The government uses a system of tiers—which are based on a person’s age and income (for surcharge purposes)—to determine how much rebate a person is entitled to. Tiers range from Base Tier (lowest income) to Tier 3 (highest income).
Refund: A direct reimbursement back to you. This will generally be paid back into the account we have on file for you.
Sub-limit: A “sub-limit” is the maximum amount that can be claimed on an individual service—or group of services—within a larger combined limit. If you’re on a family policy, there may be per person sub-limits as well as family sub-limits. Learn more.
Transfer certificate: A document issued by a health insurance fund when a member cancels their health insurance, or moves to another fund. A transfer certificate contains details of level of cover history and time served, benefit usage and Lifetime Health Cover loading. If you’ve recently moved to Australian Unity, you’ll likely have completed a transfer certificate request/authorisation as part of the joining process.
Waiting periods: A “waiting period” is the time you’ll need to wait before you become entitled to benefits for a particular service, or services, on your health cover. Learn more about waiting periods. Or call us on 13 29 39 to find out when you can claim.
Yearly limit: This is how much you’re able to claim in a calendar year.