On this page:
- Who is Frank?
- Premium increase for 2023
- Does Frank get many complaints from members?
- How good is Franks's gap cover?
- How many hospital agreements does Frank have in each state?
- Does Frank offer ambulance cover?
- Does Frank offer family policies that cover adult children?
- Does Frank let you claim online or in-app?
Who is Frank?
GMHBA launched Frank health insurance in 2009. GMHBA is a member-based health fund that began in Geelong in 1934. It has an extensive network of regional branches providing private health insurance to hundreds of thousands of members across Australia. Both Frank and GMHBA are nonprofit funds.
Phone: 1300 481 506
Website: frankhealthinsurance.com.au
Premium increase for 2023
Frank will increase its health insurance premiums on 1 October 2023 by an average of 2.33%.
This compares with an average premium increase of 2.9% and is lower than the increases of the five major health funds:
- NIB – 2.72% increase from 1 October 2023
- Medibank – 2.96% increase on 1 June 2023
- HCF – 3.33% increase on 1 September 2023
- Bupa – 3.39 from 1 October 2023
- HBF – 4.49% increase on 1 April 2023.
How to save on your Frank health insurance premium
You can review your private health insurance at any time to see if you're getting the best deal (it's good practice to do it at least once a year). With thousands of health insurance policies on the market, it can be hard to make sense of your options. So our insurance experts developed a tool that lets you compare health insurance policies so you can find cover that works for you, and potentially save yourself hundreds.
If you decide your current policy is good value for money and suits your needs, prepay your premium by 30 September. This is an excellent way to save money as it 'locks in' your current premium and means you'll avoid the 1 October price increase for up to 12 months.
Frank discounts and promo offers
While Frank doesn't offer discounts for paying by direct debit or prepaying your annual premium, youth discounts are available on the Bronze Plus Bundle and Kickstarter Bundle, and these aren't transferable to other funds.
Frank promo offer
If you take out a combined hospital and extras policy with GMHBA by 16 October 2023, you'll get:
- one month of free cover
- immediate cover for extras items that usually have a two- or six-month waiting period.
Bear in mind conditions apply and the best offers are often only available if you take out a top cover hospital and extras combined policy, so make sure the policy meets your needs and budget. A few weeks of free cover can be very costly in the long run if you take out a bad-value health insurance policy.
Does Frank get many complaints from members?
Frank has a Medium complaints rating (this includes GMHBA complaints).
When we score policies we give each fund a complaints rating, based on the number of complaints and serious disputes the Ombudsman deals with. We take into account the size of the fund, so big funds don't get automatically penalised for having more complaints. The ratings are Low, Medium and High. A Low rating is better than a High rating – it means the fund has fewer complaints and fewer serious disputes for its size.
How good is Franks's gap cover?
A medical gap is the difference between Medicare's recommended fee and what your doctor actually charges for a treatment or service.
Health funds have agreements with particular doctors and hospitals to cover all of the gap, which are called 'no gap agreements', or part of that gap, which are called 'known gap agreements' (these will have lower out-of-pocket costs, usually less than $500).
Our graphic below displays the CHOICE gap rating, which takes into account the percentage of services where members either paid no gap or a known gap, compared to the state average.
Rating scale
- Well above average
- Above average
- Average
- Below average
- Well below average
How many hospital agreements does Frank have in each state?
The benefit amount your fund pays you for hospital services depends not only on the type of cover you buy, but also whether your fund has an agreement with the hospital where you're treated.
The table below shows how many hospital agreements Frank has in your state compared to the fund with the highest number (the industry maximum). Note that public hospitals don't have agreements with specific funds and are generally treated as though they're agreement hospitals.
Does Frank offer ambulance cover?
Frank covers emergency ambulance on all hospital policies excluding Frank Basic, Frank Entry and Frank Basic Plus, Freedom Saver Flexi-Bundle and Freedom Starter Flexi-Bundle.
A refund on ambulance subscriptions is offered for these extras policies: Some Extras 50%, Some Extras 80%, Lots Extras 50%, Lots Extras 80%, Starter Bundle and Essentials Bundle (up to the percentage depending on the product held).
Does Frank offer family policies that cover adult children?
- Adult children are covered on family policies for free until they turn 21.
- Full-time students are covered on family policies for free until they turn 25.
Does Frank let you claim online or in-app?
Yes, you can claim online.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
