Compare Hunter Health Insurance

How Hunter Health Insurance rates for member complaints, gap cover and ambulance cover.

CHOICE staff

On this page:

Who is Hunter Health Insurance?
Does Hunter Health Insurance get many complaints from members?
How good is Hunter Health Insurance's gap cover?
How many hospital agreements does Hunter Health Insurance have in each state?
Does Hunter Health Insurance offer any discounts?
Does Hunter Health Insurance offer ambulance cover?
Does Hunter Health Insurance offer family policies that cover adult children?
Does Hunter Health Insurance let you claim online or in-app?

Who is Hunter Health Insurance?

Hunter Health Insurance (HHI) began in 1952 as Cessnock District Health Benefits Fund, a health fund for miners. HHI is a nonprofit health fund and continues to provide comprehensive coverage for that industry as well as the wider community, with about 5400 current members. It's part of Members Health, an alliance of nonprofit and mutual health funds.

Phone: 02 4990 1385

Website: hunterhi.com.au

Does Hunter Health Insurance get many complaints from members?

Hunter Health Insurance has a Medium complaints rating.

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 Hunter Health Insurance'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 Hunter Health Insurance 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 Hunter Health Insurance 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.

Hunter Health Insurance hospital agreements

In the Australian Capital Territory this fund has:

5 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 6.

6 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.

In the New South Wales this fund has:

75 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 92.

52 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 105.

In the Northern Territory this fund has:

1 private hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 1.

1 day hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 2.

In Queensland this fund has:

47 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 58.

35 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 54.

In South Australia this fund has:

15 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 20.

17 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 31.

In Tasmania this fund has:

8 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 8.

9 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.

In Victoria this fund has:

68 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 71.

63 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 80.

In Western Australia this fund has:

18 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 23.

12 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 29.

Does Hunter Health Insurance offer any discounts?

While Hunter Health Insurance does not offer any discounts for prepaying your annual premium or paying by direct debit, there are youth discounts available on some Basic, Bronze Plus, Silver Plus and Gold policies, and these are transferable (meaning you can transfer a discount from another fund to one of these policies).

Does Hunter Health Insurance offer ambulance cover?

Hunter Health Insurance doesn't cover emergency ambulance in Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory or South Australia.

Depending on where you live, you may not need a policy with ambulance cover.

Queensland and Tasmania: Emergency ambulance services are covered by the state government.
New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: All hospital policies come with emergency ambulance cover – so you'll be covered with any hospital or combined policy you select.
South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory: You can buy emergency ambulance cover directly from the ambulance service. Alternatively, some health fund policies will cover ambulance in your state or territory or refund at least part of the cost of the ambulance service cover.
Rural Western Australia: You can buy emergency ambulance cover directly from the ambulance service. Alternatively, some health fund policies will cover ambulance or refund at least part of the cost of the ambulance service cover.
Metropolitan Western Australia: If you want to be covered for ambulance you need to buy a health insurance policy with ambulance cover.

Does Hunter Health Insurance 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 Hunter Health Insurance let you claim online or in-app?

Extras services can be claimed online, and hospital claims can be emailed. There's also an iOS and Android app that can be accessed from the health fund's website.

We care about accuracy. See something that's not quite right in this article? Let us know or read more about fact-checking at CHOICE.

Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.

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