Who still sells OVHC in Australia: the current insurer lineup
The OVHC providers verified against their own live product pages, with the date each was checked and one important name removed from the list.
Most provider lists for OVHC are old. They get copied between blogs, they survive long after a insurer has changed what it sells, and the reader who trusts one usually cannot tell which part has gone stale. This page is built the other way round: every insurer below was confirmed against its own current product page, and every row carries the date that was checked.
The name to strike off your list first
CBHS no longer sells OVHC to new members. Their own site states they are not offering overseas visitor cover to new members, and that existing members keep their cover until the end of their current policy. If a comparison list still shows CBHS as something to buy for a visitor visa, that list is out of date, and it is not a small detail: someone could pay for a policy they cannot actually take up.
There is a related trap with ahm. Its overseas visitor cover is provided through Medibank rather than as a standalone ahm product, so if you are comparing quotes, check whether the Medibank product is the one being quoted to you. Both points came from the insurers’ own pages, checked on the date shown in the table below.
The insurers that were confirmed as offering OVHC
| Insurer | Confirmed on their own page | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Bupa | Overseas visitors cover | 1 October 2026 |
| Medibank | Overseas health insurance for visitors | 1 October 2026 |
| nib | Working visitors cover | 1 October 2026 |
| Allianz Care Australia | Visitors visa cover | 1 October 2026 |
| Australian Unity | Overseas visitor cover | 1 October 2026 |
| HIF | Visitor cover | 1 October 2026 |
| HCF | Overseas visitors cover | 1 October 2026 |
| Frank | Overseas visitor cover | 1 October 2026 |
The regulator’s own guidance for visitors is the frame around all of this: the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman is the body to go to if a claim is disputed, and PrivateHealth.gov.au sets out what OVHC is and who it is for.
Why the lineup alone does not decide it
The fact that an insurer sells OVHC is the least useful part of the comparison. What actually changes your cash outcome is the detail below, and the detail is what you should compare line by line.
- Hospital versus hospital and medical. Hospital-only can be enough for some visa purposes but leaves out-of-hospital treatment as your own cost. Our guide to the difference between the two explains where the line sits.
- The excess. A single lump sum before the insurer pays, per hospital stay or per year. Home Affairs recommends products with no excess. Read how excess and co-payment work before you treat a lower premium as a better deal.
- Waiting periods. For a cover product you are buying the day you arrive, a waiting period is a real exposure, not a technicality — see waiting periods, pregnancy and psychiatric cover.
- Prescription cover. Pharmacy items are frequently outside the daily treatment limits, which is where a lot of the running cost quietly goes. See the pharmacy and prescription gap.
- What drives the price. The same policy can differ sharply in price with the things that are hard to change later, which we set out in what drives the cost.
How to check any list you were given
If someone handed you a provider list, three checks settle it in ten minutes:
- Open the insurer’s own OVHC page yourself. Not a comparison site, not a blog — the insurer’s product page. If the page is gone, the product is gone.
- Check the start date, not just the purchase date. Your cover normally has to be in place from the date you arrive, and sometimes earlier. Our guide to which visa needs cover and from when covers the start dates.
- Check the visa-specific minimum. Some visas require a higher level of cover than others, and the visa itself is the authority — see the OVHC minimum cover checklist.
Compare the confirmed plans in one place, and treat the hospital agreement list as part of the product, because that is what decides your worst case. Insurers change products without notice, and pricing and benefits change with them; this page is general information, not financial or medical advice, and each insurer’s current Product Disclosure Statement is the binding document.
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