Getting a health insurance to visit or live in Australia is a thing that is often overlooked or given a less importance.

Even though it is one of the mandatory requirements to fulfil, a certain misconceptions revolve around the aspiring immigrants when it comes to buying an Overseas Visitors Health Cover.

This includes:

“Cheap policy will work for me as I am young and healthy”

“I have enough funds to face any emergency situation. I don’t need to go for higher coverage”

If you are also contemplating around such thoughts, then you ought to read this story.

This is a true story of Arjun (name changed for confidentiality) from India, who like any other professional, was excited of getting an opportunity to work in Australia on 457 visa.

He migrated to Australia with his family in 2012 and was really overwhelmed with his achievement.  He had everything on the table from the academic documents, employer sponsorship and health insurance (OVHC).  

Little did he know, his preferences in choosing the health cover, would lead him face horrible consequences.  

But where did his choices go wrong?

Without understanding the implications of choosing the wrong OVHC plan, Arjun chose to go with the cheapest policy all because he wanted to save some money.  

After Arjun arrived in Australia, within one year, he was detected with a life-threatening disease “Blood Cancer”. This was a devastating situation for the entire family.

His only ray of hope was that he and his family were covered for the medical expenses in Australia.

But, Arjun’s health insurance policy only covered the basic services and not the expenses for the treatment of bone marrow transplantation. He needed chemotherapy and radiation along with the support of highly trained medical professionals for a huge operation.

The Health care was definitely very expensive and hard to afford for Arjun and his family. He updated his plan to a Platinum Visitor Cover as this will cover all the treatments including bone marrow transplantation in Australia.

Unfortunately, updating a cover didn’t come for a rescue too for the family as the policies don’t cover existing illness for at least one year. There is a waiting period of 12 months to get the privileges of that cover.

Due to all these circumstances, he couldn’t afford to get treated in Australia, hence he had to fly back to his country for emergency treatment. He was only able to return to Australia after one year.

His wife who was working as Chef lost her job. Their children had to repeat a class. They had to start from scratch in an international country.

Fighting with a fatal disease with no support led the entire family with a severe psychological breakdown. Thankfully, Arjun’s family pulled through this crisis and Arjun emerged as a true fighter and survivor!!!

What happened in Arjun case, will not happen in everyone’s case. But do we have to wait for that situation to occur? Of Course Not!

So, make sure you choose the health insurance for your Australian visa that protects you the best and your family.

At www.getmypolicy.online, you can compare a wide range of OVHC & OSHC policies on different parameters like coverage, waiting period, emergency services, accommodation, etc and get the best quote at just one click.

Visit now and mitigate the risk of paying hefty medical costs for your entire duration of stay in Australia.

When it comes to visiting overseas temporarily, people have a tendency to buy health insurance cover without knowing the importance of getting familiar with the level of coverage.

This is the reason that despite of getting an adequate level of health coverage from home country, they don’t get covered for the medical expenses overseas or get the very minimal level of coverage.

One of our clients, Mr Priyank (name changed), is a testament to this fact.  He had a difficult experience with an Indian insurance company.

Mr. Priyank visited Australia to see his son on a visitor visa. He took an insurance out for both him and his wife with an insurance company in India. During his travel, he contracted Malaria and had to be hospitalised as soon as he arrived in Australia. He had to bear the initial expenses by himself by paying from his pocket, as Indian insurance companies cannot participate in bulk billing arrangements and money can be recovered by filing claims later.

The expenses came out to INR 1,20,000 which included expenses for medical admission in to hospital, pathology tests and treatment for malaria.

Thanks to his son who is a resident in Australia, Mr. Priyank was able to manage these unexpected expenses in Australia. Mr. Priyank gathered all the paperwork meticulously to make sure that he could file his claims with the insurance company once returning to India.

But the litigation process with the insurance company took nearly 10 months to recover most of his money. Mr. Priyank was able to get INR 1,12,000 of his money back but in bits and pieces and only after aggressive follow ups from his end. He could get an initial Rs 28,000 through a quick reimbursement process after which the file was put on hold for extended periods.

Standard documents were repeatedly asked making the paperwork lengthy. The rest of the money came in parts, sometimes forgotten by claim officers and a partial amount will only be transferred after the insurer tracks his impending payments. The process was stacked up against the insurer to basically make them give up on claims by making them undergo a long and contrived process.

However, getting an Australian visitor cover means access to bulk billing medical outfits, emergency services, hospitalisation etc. Also the claims process is fairly simple and done in a steadfast manner.

At Getmypolicy.online, you have the privilege to compare a wide range of plans by leading insurance providers of Australia and choose the one that best protects your stay and visa requirements. There are no hidden costs, you can purchase the desired health cover in minutes due to unbiased information and simplified buying process.

You started your international journey in Australia with a great fervour.

You worked tirelessly to make the most of every opportunity coming your way to build a successful career in Australia.

This began with choosing a course that can help landing a dream job in future, dealing with months of preparation for visa and getting acquainted with the international practices.

But, what if the immigration department ask that you cannot live or extend your stay in Australia?

You are sitting, contemplating with shock – despite having a valid visa, best financial support, required skills, Why I am not eligible to stay in the country? 

Well, It’s because of the Expired Health Insurance Policy!

Being a migrant in Australia, you will obviously be aware of the importance of having an OSHC (Overseas Student Health Cover) and OVHC (Overseas Visitor Health Cover). It is one of the mandatory requirements for a work or student visa of Australia to fulfil, as it provides access to high quality health care and coverage against unexpected medical expenses. Failing to maintain an adequate level of health cover, means not meeting the health requirements for Australian visa, which ultimately results into visa rejection.

When it comes to purchasing OSHC or OVHC, we leave no stone unturned to buy the one that best meet our needs and budget. We make sure to consider what the plan covers, compare benefits and figure out the premiums meticulously.

However, we completely overlook some factors that make us deprive of enjoying the continuous benefits of our health insurance plan. One of them is renewing the policy before the due date or expiry date.

Why Renewing Your OSHC and OVHC Is Important?

All the health insurance policies come with an annual limit and hence need to be renewed every year.  If you fail to renew the policy before the due date, the negligence may cause a policy lapse and need to buy a new one. 

It also goes with Overseas Student Health Cover and Overseas Visitor Health Cover. Insurance companies in Australia work closely with the Department of Home Affairs to monitor the compliance of health insurance. If you are on Australian student visa or work visa, you cannot spend a single day without having an evidence of suitable health cover arrangements. So, be sure of not missing the due date to ensure a continuous stay in Australia. 

Even though the insurers send a renewal notice informing the insured about the expiry of the policy, it is the responsibility of the insured to renew the policy within the stipulated time. 

Other Consequences

No-Premium Benefits: When you purchase a health insurance policy, a premium is paid to the insurer every month to avail coverage benefits during critical times . In case, the policy terminates due to non-renewal of policy, you also lose the premium benefits. And even you renew the policy after the due date, you need to pay the interests as well, which obviously proves to be more expensive. 

More Waiting Period:  It is evident that the insured need to serve a designated waiting period to avail certain benefits under the health insurance plan. If the policy lapse, you will have to serve that waiting period all over again to claim that benefits and face many other problems in an international country when an emergency situation arises.

Pre-Existing illness cover: As we read above, with a new policy also comes a new waiting period. This is also applicable to the pre-existing illness cover. One has to wait for two to four years to avail that coverage. So, even if you have served this period with your old policy but failed to renew the policy on time, the same period will be count with a new policy to make you eligible for the coverage of pre-existing illness. 

Things to Consider When Renewing a Health Insurance Policy

Grace Period: Generally, if the insured fail to renew the policy or pay premium by the deadline, he is given a grace period of 15 or 30 days by the insurance company. If you renew your policy within that time-period, your policy will be considered valid and make you eligible to enjoy benefits. 

Reconsider Your Health Insurance Requirements Carefully: Being a policy holder, you must inform about any change in the health condition to the insurer. It is the time where you need to choose the coverage that can help to meet your family’s financial needs in Australia.  It can either be adding a new child/spouse or removing an expired member from the coverage. 

Insurance Provider: Many times, in health insurance case, we often feel to switch to better options or services than the one we currently possess. If you too feel the same, you can switch to other policy or change your provider. You can also refer www.getmypolicy.online to compare multiple plans by leading health insurance providers and choose the one that can best protect your journey in the ‘land down under’

** If your request to switching to other policy or provider is not in line with the company’s terms and conditions, it may get rejected.  Some other common reasons responsible for the rejection are insufficient information, poor claim history, missing previous policy document, higher age, etc. 

Getting a chance to study and settle in a country like Australia is an opportunity that doesn’t come frequently. You are ought to fulfil all the obligations and laws so that it does not hamper your goals or career. Having the health insurance renewed on time is such obligation to follow as it saves you from facing horrible consequences and allow you to stay stress-free in an unknown country. 

Uday’s (name changed for privacy) parents visited Australia first time in 2014 on tourist visa. They got an insurance policy from a reputed Indian insurance company before arriving in Australia.

When they arrived in Australia, they found the claim process of current health insurance to be lengthy and tedious hence they were unsure to continue further with the company.

Their son Uday did a research and found out an Australian company’s policy that covered most of the things like ambulance services, general dental, optical, GP visits etc. Hence, he got a bronze visitor + extras couple cover at the monthly premium of $356. Uday’s father also informed about his condition of prolonged diabetes as it is one of the mandatory requirement before getting a health insurance policy.

While Uday’s father was in Australia, he suffered from a sudden heart attack and needed emergency medical treatment. The total hospital expense for the entire treatment was $32,000. After the payments were done, the family went to the Australian insurance company for the claim. While processing the claim, the company studied the medical reports.

During the initial investigation, The insurance provider surmised that since Uday’s father was suffering from prolonged diabetes, his heart ailment might be a pre-existing condition which was not declared while getting the policy. Further to their investigation, they asked Uday to submit previous medical records to which he agreed and followed all the procedures without any deviation.

Uday submitted all the previous medical records of his father. After a quick deliberation, the insurance provider came to the conclusion that the pre-existing condition clause doesn’t imply here and hence Uday and his family were eligible for the cover of $18,000 under the restricted clause for cardiac arrest treatment (in accordance with the claims standard set forth for the bronze cover).  This was a great help for Uday and his family as the insurance company paid a huge sum of the medical expenses as promised.

Since, Uday made the right decision of moving to an Australian insurance company, it helped him to deal with the large sum of emergency medical expenses. Now his parents keep visiting Australia after every 6 months.

When his parents are not in Australia, he blocks the membership which means he doesn’t have to pay the monthly premium of $356 for that duration. When they are back in Australia, he unblocks the membership and his parents are again covered by the policy. Hence this Australian company’s policy was ideal for him and his family.

If you are also living in Australia and have parents who need to visit you frequently, with a right level of health cover you can make sure you and your loved ones are covered in case any injury or accident happen.

Being a group of professional immigration consultants, we at Aussizz Group always work by the sweat of our brow to make sure our client fulfils every obligation to migrate to Australia and have a peaceful stay here. Apart from providing assistance for the visa process, we also extend our support in choosing the best health cover for them and their dependents.

At www.getmypolicy.online you can find a great range of health insurance plans by leading providers of Australia. You can compare them at different parameters like premium, deductibles and choose the one that best meet your needs.

This is the story of a young student Neeta, who like most of us, arrived in Australia to chase her dreams. Taking the decision of going overseas at the tender age of 19 was not easy for her as this was her first time leaving home and her family. But Neeta was on top of the world! She adjusted well, settled in and was happy with her life at University.  

One night, within four months of arriving in Australia, Neeta had to rush to the emergency room due to a severe urinary tract infection. She was alone, with no family or friends around for support. She was admitted at midnight while undergoing severe pain.

She was in so much pain that she couldn’t walk or even find the strength to talk to anyone. She was lonely and scared, staying overnight at a hospital in a different country. Fortunately, she was well taken care of by the staff and discharged in the morning with additional prescriptions to continue her treatment.

Although she was well and healthy in a few days, her stress was far from being over. The hospital bill arrived two weeks later. Due to the expeditious nature of her condition, she had to go to private hospital and treated immediately.  She was charged for her emergency treatment and the single bed in a shared room for the night.

This resulted in the treatment costing around $ 1200. In addition to this, the prescription drugs costed her extra $150. For an international student with no job and other daily expenses to take care of, $1200 was a massive amount of money.

Thankfully, Neeta had a good OSHC plan from a reputable health insurance provider which covered in-patient treatments for more than 90% of the private hospitals in Australia. The OSHC provider she had chosen had a good network of private hospitals under their scope of coverage which reduced out of pocket expenses of many overseas students even when admitted to a private hospital.

Neeta’s OSHC provider allowed claims for the entire treatment cost including in-patient accommodation fees (i.e. your bed stay, meals, and nursing care) of $1200. Additionally, she was able to claim a part of the pharmacy expenses as the OSHC provider covered up to $50 per prescribed medicine in the itemised pharmacy bill.

The entire process to claim medical expenses was super smooth one as Neeta used the insurance providers’ mobile app feature, designed to be instantaneous and yield quick results. The hospital bill was taken care of within 10 working days. Neeta did not have to spend a single penny from her pocket or face any hassles in the claims process.  This was all possible because she chose the right insurance provider.

Neeta shared her story with us because she wants to create awareness around the importance of choosing the right insurance plan. Nobody expects unfortunate events like this, but it is always a good idea to be prepared.

To compare and buy the best policies instantaneously, log on to www.getmypolicy.online. It is the perfect resource that allows you to compare a wide range of OSHC plans by Australia’s leading providers like Allianz Care, Bupa, Nib and AHM and buy the one that perfectly meet your needs along with the immigration department for Australian visa

As an International student, many will be familiar with the Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). But we rarely think about the benefits covered by an OSHC policy except when we are faced with an illness or a medical condition which puts us in a situation of financial crunch. That’s when one gets introduced to the nitty-gritty of the insurance policy and terms such as claims and reimbursement starts to sound familiar.

One of the most frequent claim lodged as an Overseas insurance holder is for pharmacy bills. Yet understanding around the entitlements one receives as a policy purchaser towards the pharmacy bills is very vague. Or all pharmacy bills covered? If so, why do I always seem to get less claimable returns than the original bill? Or all pharmacy items covered? These are some of the questions that circle around the minds of International students while spending for their pharmacy bills out of pocket.

In this blog, we have broken down some crucial questions when it comes to coverage for pharmacy expenses and claiming for your pharmacy bills.

So, first off, what is covered?

Pharmacy bills containing prescription medicines prescribed by a doctor/GP while in Australia is covered under your OSHC policy. Which means, medicines that can be purchased over the counter without a prescription from a doctor cannot be reimbursed under this policy. For eg: Betadine, taken for a sore throat without a doctor’s advice.

What exactly is Prescription Medicine?

A prescription medicine refers to the medicines prescribed by the doctor requesting to be dispensed to the patient by the pharmacist. Such medicines need to be listed on the PBS (Pharmacy benefit Schedule) to get reimbursement for pharmacy expenses under the OSHC policy.

So, who pays first?

The student always pays off the pharmacy bill first and then, approaches the OSHC insurance provider for the claim benefits. The OSHC claims officer processes the pharmacy bills and reimburses the student a certain coverage amount.

What coverage can I get from OSHC providers against Prescription Medicine Costs?

Pharmacy expenses coverage always comes with a co-payment. It is a fixed amount paid by the student and the insurance company both, every time a medical service is claimed. Currently, for most of the OSHC providers, the minimum co-payment set by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for international students is $40.30. Also, the maximum coverage one can get per pharmacy item listed in the bill is up to $50.

Still confused, let’s work it out with an example.

For instance, there are 3 items mentioned in a pharmacy bill- Drug A, Drug B and Drug C

Drug A costs $45

Drug B costs $32

Drug C costs $92 and the total bill amount is, $169

This is how co-payment works for this bill.

For Item 1 of the bill, Drug A, the student pays the first $40.30 and the OSHC provider pays $ 4.70

For Item 2, Drug B the student is supposed to pay the whole amount as it costs only $32, as it is less than the co-payment limit of $40.30. This means the student is not eligible for a claim for Drug B listed in the bill.

For Item 3, Drug C, the student pays the first $40.30 and the OSHC provider pays $ 50 as the maximum coverage limit per prescription item is set at $50. The rest of the excess amount will be paid by the student. Hence for Drug C, The student pays a total of $42 while the OSHC insurer pays $50.

It is important to remember that co-payment applies for every single prescription item listed in the pharmacy bill.

Is there an annual limit to the claimable amount towards pharmacy benefits?

Yes, there is! Please see the table below for detailed info on member contribution, maximum coverage per pharmacy item and annual claim limit for single and family policy for each provider

How to know which drugs or medicines are covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefit (PBS) Scheme?

PBS has medicines listing on their website. You can visit here: http://www.pbs.gov.au/browse/medicine-listing to explore the same.

Easy Steps to Claim for Prescription Medicines

• Get your medicines prescribed by the doctor
• Purchase it from a pharmacist and obtain a receipt covering all the information you need to claim
• Complete a claim form available at your OSHC provider’s website along with the receipt.
• Get your co-payment amount

Seeking further assistance on any type of coverage for your OSHC policy? Get started with our experts today at support@getmypolicy.online.

The Victorian Skilled Migration Program for the fiscal year 2023-2024 is now accepting applications from both domestic residents in Victoria and international candidates.

Who Can Apply:

• Eligibility Criteria: Must be under 45, have competent English, and score at least 65 points on the Australian Government’s points test.
• Nomination from Victoria: Required for application.
• Application Process: Involves submitting an EOI to the Department of Home Affairs and an ROI for Victorian nomination.
• Required Documents: Passport, English language test, and Skills Assessment are mandatory. An employment contract and payslips are needed if you are currently working in Victoria.
• Time Limit: Must submit the visa application within 60 days of receiving the nomination.

Skilled Visa Processing Priorities in Australia: What’s New?

The Australian government has outlined specific priorities for processing skilled visa applications. Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Healthcare & Teaching: Top priority is given to professionals in healthcare and teaching sectors, including roles like medical scientists, social workers, and school principals.
2. Employer-Sponsored Visas: If you’re nominated by an accredited sponsor, your application will be fast-tracked.
3. Regional Area Occupations: Jobs in designated regional areas are also given priority, making it easier for applicants willing to work in these regions.
4. Permanent & Provisional Visas: Applications contributing to the migration program are prioritized, except for the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa.
5. Other Applications: All other visa applications are processed thereafter.

For more information please visit official website:

Additional Information and Support

The program is expected to conclude in the early part of 2024, with the specific closure date to be announced in due course.

Detailed information about the program, encompassing eligibility criteria and key timelines, will be made available as soon as it is finalized.

For personalized consultation or further clarification, you are encouraged to reach out at +971 58-223-4349 or initiate an online inquiry.

Source: Click Here

Imagine, you are studying in Australia in a reputed university and then one fine day you need to call your parents saying that you cannot continue your stay in the country.

Something unfortunate happened. Your health took a debacle and you had to get treated in Australia, but your health insurance (OSHC policy) did not cover you for the expenses. Or you failed to renew and extend your OSHC and thereby got your visa cancelled by the immigration department for breaching 8501 visa condition.

What if you have to deal with the same situation while you study in Australia?

You’ll be devastated! Won’t you? As there was so much of hard work done to get the opportunity of studying overseas.

But the good news is, you can take precautions and avoid facing such consequences.

Most of the times, international students end up regretting with their OSHC plan as they either:

• Buy it in a hurry
• Buy just by relying on family or friends’ recommendation or
• Buy the one by focusing solely on low-cost

If you are one among the students, planning to purchase overseas student health cover to meet requirements of student visa, all you need to do is to look for the most suitable plan and spend wisely on it.

Must Read: Why Overseas Student Health Cover is Necessary to Get Australian Student Visa?

So, What Defines a Suitable OSHC plan?

A suitable OSHC plan is nothing but the one that covers all your needs and provide you with peace of mind knowing that you are financially protected for the entire duration of your stay in Australia at the time of medical emergencies.

And how will you ensure that the plan you selected is perfect for you?

Keep reading to find out!

Compare Policies of Different OSHC Providers

When it comes to choosing the best overseas health insurance plan, we often get intimidated by a wide range of options available. Sometimes we end up buying a plan which costs less but doesn’t offer comprehensive coverage or we pay substantial premiums only to realise later that we never required frills in our plan.

So, before zeroing in on one, it is imperative to compare Overseas student health insurance policies from leading providers to make sure of getting the adequate level of coverage during emergencies.

Execute a quote on www.getmypolicy.online to get feature by feature comparison across all OSHC provider. Here, you can get specific insights on coverage patterns when it comes to Public and Private hospital treatments, Out of Hospital coverage for pathology, GP services and specialist requirements such as MRI scans.

You can also learn about applicable waiting periods and refund clauses through the comparison tool on our site.

Compare their Services

A common factor that all OSHC providers have is they offer additional services or features in their plans. The difference however is they may not be equal in how they perform or what they may cover.

For instance, some insurance providers have a designated OSHC app that helps their members to:

• Submit and process claims easily and quickly
• Find the nearest doctors
• Access membership card with policy details anytime
• Get local emergency numbers, etc.

While some OSHC providers have home doctor services and on-campus support services added in their plans. To get an idea how you can compare such services, you can refer to the table given below:

Now that you know how comparison helps you to land on a policy that’s right for you, are you looking for a resource that can help you run such quote or service comparison quickly?  Visit www.getmypolicy.online now & start comparing plans by leading health insurance providers to make a right decision.

For further assistance, you can also drop us an email at support@getmypolicy.online and get best solutions immediately.

Your intention to visit Australia could be to enjoy that perfect holiday you’d been waiting for. No? If you’re a student, you’re perhaps waiting to study in one of the best universities of the world. No, again? Ohh, perhaps, you are done with studying and want to work in Australia.

Whatever the case is, if you’re a citizen from a country that does not have a Reciprocal Healthcare Agreement (RHA) with Australia, you should know that you’re solely responsible for the medical expenses that arise. Australian healthcare is extremely costly and could dent a cave in your wallet! But, your Overseas Health Insurance is here to back you!

If you’re out studying on a 500 Visa, you could secure your health from unwanted & unnecessary expenses with an Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) Again, it is mandatory for you, if you are a student! But what if you’re done with studying and are working? You again need a 485 Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) to back your medical expenses when you apply for your visa. It is again mandated by the Home Affairs Department. Even if you want to visit Australia on a 600 Visa, it is highly recommended that you have an adequate level of OVHC so that your medical expenses are covered.

Your visit to Australia could be due to ‘n’ number of reasons. You might want to step out of your monotonous lifestyle & rewind a bit. Perhaps, you want to spend some time with your family or friends. Or perhaps, undertake any other activity. An important thing to remember is getting an adequate Overseas Health Insurance in Australia.

As a visitor, bear in mind that Medical expenses in Australia tear through the roof and it is highly advisable that you get your 600 Visitor Visa Health Insurance so that you can safeguard your health & wallet against any unforeseen medical event.

Also, if you are on a 601 Visa, it is strongly recommended by the Department of home affairs that you maintain adequate 601 visa health insurance when you’re in Australia, as it secures your health & medical expenses against unwanted expenses.