What waiting periods are in place for Bupa?

Most Bupa policies have government mandated waiting periods before you can claim a particular benefit. Here are some of the waiting periods on Bupa hospital cover: 12 months. Pre-existing conditions, pregnancy and birth (obstetrics). 2 months. All other treatments as well as psychiatric treatments for pre-existing conditions, palliative care and rehabilitation. Waiting periods also apply for Bupa extras coverage. 12 months. Purchase of Health aids and appliances, orthodontics and major dental. 2 months. Most other extras services. No waiting period. Emergency ambulance service.

How do I make a claim with Bupa?

There are several ways you can claim on your Bupa health insurance policy: On the spot. Simply swipe your membership card and pay any difference. Around 20,000 service providers around Australia accept Bupa membership cards. By post. Fill out a claim form, attach your receipt and invoice and then post it to Bupa Reply Paid 990, Adelaide SA 5001. Payments will then be made to you by EFT if you've provided your details on the form or by cheque if you haven't. Online. To make a claim for services that you've already paid for, sign into your myBupa account and enter the details on your receipt. Your reimbursement will be automatically paid to your nominated account. With the myBupa app. The myBupa app allows you to claim for some treatments quickly, available for both Android and Apple devices. Fund Android iOS Bupa

Can I suspend my Bupa policy?

You health insurance policy can be suspended for a limited period of time. You'll need a reason, like travelling overseas, facing financial hardships or going to prison. You won't get any benefits during this time, but you'll be able to keep your served waiting periods and save some money in the meantime. The maximum suspension period varies, so you'll need to check with Bupa.

What if my premium payments fall into arrears?

If the premiums are not paid by the due date, the policy is considered to be in arrears. If the arrears are more than two months Bupa may cancel the policy. There are some standards rules around health insurance payments falling into arrears that hold true across the industry.

Will my Bupa premium change?

Health insurance prices will change over time - typically upwards! The most common reason it will increase is from the April 1st price increase , which happens across the industry each year. Your premiums can also change if you change your premium - obviously. Also, if you move to a different state, there might be a different premium.

Does Bupa offer health insurance for overseas visitors?

Yes, Bupa offers a range of visitors health cover designed to suit those on working, non-working, student and holiday visas.

Bupa health insurance review

4.1 ★★★★★ (454 reviews) Write a review

Pros

Basic Plus Starter is the cheapest plan on Finder to cover joint reconstruction, lung and chest; and miscarriage and termination of pregnancy.
It's popular. Bupa is the second-largest health insurer by market share, just behind Medibank.
Flexibility – with Bupa FLEXtras, you can pick the extras you'll actually use.
Bupa had proportionally fewer complaints than other funds including HCF and nib*.

Cons

Bupa is for-profit, which might matter to some people who want to look for a not-for-profit health fund.

Congratulations, Bupa!

Bupa was a big winner in the 2025 Finder Awards.

Highly commended, Best Basic Hospital Health Insurance: Basic Accident Only Hospital $750 Excess
Highly commended, Best Bronze Hospital Health Insurance: Bronze Plus Simple Hospital $750 Excess
Highly commended, Best Silver Hospital Health Insurance: Silver Plus Intermediate Hospital $750 Excess
Winner, Best Core Extras Health Insurance: Extras Saver
Highly commended, Best Medium Extras Health Insurance: FLEXtras 4 Standard 50

Full list of 2025 health insurance winners

- Highly commended awards in the 2024 Product Awards- Basic Hospital
- Highly commended awards in the 2024 Product Awards- Medium Extras
- Finalist for Best Health Fund of the Year 2023
- Finalist for Best Health Insurance - Basic Hospital 2023
- Finalist for Best Health Insurance - Basic Extras 2023
- Finalist for Best Health Insurance - Medium Extras 2023

1 - 1 of 1

Name	Product
Join directly on eligible cover & get up to 12 weeks free Ends 31 July 2025 T&Cs apply. New members only. Ends 31 July. 12 weeks free applied over 2 years (3 years for annual payers). Get deal		loading Fetching your data...

Showing 1 of 1 results

What types of health insurance does Bupa offer?

Hospital
Extras

1 - 5 of 5

Name and lozenges	Finder Score	Treatments	Price
Basic Accident Only Hospital $750 Excess Basic$750 excess	Finder score 7.5 Great	Rehabilitation Joint reconstructions Dental surgery Hernia and appendix Eye excluding cataracts Pain management Gynaecology Lung and chest	$81.05 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...
Basic Plus Starter Hospital $750 Excess Basic Plus$750 excess	Finder score 7.1 Great	Rehabilitation Joint reconstructions Dental surgery Hernia and appendix Eye excluding cataracts Pain management Gynaecology Lung and chest +3 other treatments covered	$87.91 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...
Bronze Plus Simple Hospital $750 Excess Bronze Plus$750 excess	Finder score 8.8 Great	Joint reconstructions Ear nose and throat Blood Back neck and spine Dental surgery Eye excluding cataracts Cancer Lung and chest +16 other treatments covered	$93.22 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...
Silver Plus Essential Hospital $750 Excess Silver Plus$750 excess	Finder score 8.2 Great	Lung and chest Back neck and spine Cataracts Joint replacements Blood Dental surgery Palliative care Pregnancy and birth +24 other treatments covered	$115.39 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...
Silver Plus Advanced Hospital $750 Excess Silver Plus$750 excess	Finder score 7.8 Great	Lung and chest Back neck and spine Cataracts Joint replacements Blood Dental surgery Palliative care Pregnancy and birth +26 other treatments covered	$176.57 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...

Showing 5 of 5 results

1 - 3 of 3

Name and lozenges	Finder Score	Treatments	Price
Freedom 50 Extras cover	Finder score 8.5 Great	General dental Major dental Optical Physiotherapy Chiropractic Psychology Remedial massage Hearing aids	$15.08 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...
Starter Extras Extras cover	Finder score 8.3 Great	General dental Major dental Optical Physiotherapy Chiropractic Psychology Remedial massage Hearing aids	$25.93 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...
Core Extras Extras cover	Finder score 8.1 Great	General dental Major dental Optical Physiotherapy Chiropractic Psychology Remedial massage Hearing aids +2 other treatments covered	$41.01 per month	Go to Site View details Compare product selectionCompare	loading Fetching your data...

Showing 3 of 3 results

Get the lowdown on Finder Score

Each month we analyse over 10,000 hospital and extras insurance products and rate each one on price and features. What we end up with is a nice round number out of 10 that helps you compare products a bit faster.

Before we start scoring, we need to make sure we're comparing like-for-like. Just as it doesn't make sense to compare a toy car with a Porche, it doesn't make sense to compare basic policies to top-tier gold policies. Each policy is given a price score and feature score. These are then combined to determine each policies's Finder Score. Read our full methodologies of how we calculated Finder Score for hospital cover and extras cover.

What do Australians think of Bupa health insurance?

4.14/5 overall for Customer Satisfaction - higher than the average of 4.13
4.56/5 for Trust - higher than the average of 4.46
4.19/5 for Customer Service - higher than the average of 4.17

Based on Bupa health insurance scores in Finder's 2024 Customer Satisfaction Awards.

Bupa health insurance complaints

We looked at the 2023 Ombudsman health insurance complaints. Here's how Bupa stacked up:

Its customer service is among the best compared to other large funds. With a market share of 24.9%, only 23.7% of total complaints were about Bupa. This is a better complaint ratio than most of Australia's other large funds including HCF and nib.

While it has few complaints compared to market share, it's not number 1. HBF and GMHBA scored better.

Bupa frequently asked questions

Most Bupa policies have government mandated waiting periods before you can claim a particular benefit. Here are some of the waiting periods on Bupa hospital cover:
- 12 months. Pre-existing conditions, pregnancy and birth (obstetrics).
- 2 months. All other treatments as well as psychiatric treatments for pre-existing conditions, palliative care and rehabilitation.
Waiting periods also apply for Bupa extras coverage.
- 12 months. Purchase of Health aids and appliances, orthodontics and major dental.
- 2 months. Most other extras services.
- No waiting period. Emergency ambulance service.
There are several ways you can claim on your Bupa health insurance policy:
- On the spot. Simply swipe your membership card and pay any difference. Around 20,000 service providers around Australia accept Bupa membership cards.
- By post. Fill out a claim form, attach your receipt and invoice and then post it to Bupa Reply Paid 990, Adelaide SA 5001. Payments will then be made to you by EFT if you've provided your details on the form or by cheque if you haven't.
- Online. To make a claim for services that you've already paid for, sign into your myBupa account and enter the details on your receipt. Your reimbursement will be automatically paid to your nominated account.
- With the myBupa app. The myBupa app allows you to claim for some treatments quickly, available for both Android and Apple devices.
Fund Android iOS
Bupa
You health insurance policy can be suspended for a limited period of time. You'll need a reason, like travelling overseas, facing financial hardships or going to prison. You won't get any benefits during this time, but you'll be able to keep your served waiting periods and save some money in the meantime. The maximum suspension period varies, so you'll need to check with Bupa.
Health insurance prices will change over time - typically upwards! The most common reason it will increase is from the April 1st price increase, which happens across the industry each year. Your premiums can also change if you change your premium - obviously. Also, if you move to a different state, there might be a different premium.

Fund	Android	iOS
Bupa

Compare other products from Bupa

Thank you for your feedback!

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Tim Bennett as part of our fact-checking process.

Written by

Gary Ross Hunter

Journalist

Gary Ross Hunter has over 6 years of expertise writing about insurance, including life, health, home, and car insurance. Having reviewed hundreds of product disclosure statements and published over 800 articles, he loves simplifying complex insurance topics for everyday readers. Gary has contributed to major outlets like Yahoo Finance, The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow, along with a Tier 2 General Advice certification, ensuring his work adheres to ASIC’s RG146 standards. See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise

Gary Ross has written 591 Finder guides across topics including:

Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
Managing the cost of living

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