Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC)

You should take out overseas visitors' insurance whatever your reason for visiting Australia. In Australia, having a medical insurance policy gives you access to quality health care and mitigates the risk of paying full-cost medical bills.

Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) protects you against illness or injury while you are visiting Australia on a temporary visa. The OVHC provides assistance to international visitors attending hospital stays, doctor's visits, prescription medicine, and ambulance services while in Australia. The services you can access depend on the policy you purchase.

You may be required to purchase insurance as part of your visa application. International visitors, who are not covered by Australia's public health system, should consider an OVHC policy before arriving for a long-term stay.

Overseas Visitor Health Cover?

• In-hospital treatment : You can receive hospital treatment through the public or private system with an OVHC policy, depending on your level of coverage. The public system will at least cover you as an Australian resident if you have a visa-compliant policy. The insurance company will usually cover a certain amount of the cost of treatment if you wish to receive treatment in a private hospital. Additionally, it is essential to know what exclusions your policy contains since not all policies are alike.
• Out-of-hospital treatment : Medical services such as pathology and radiology, as well as some out-of-hospital treatment, are usually covered by most policies. You may have to pay the difference out of pocket if the cost of these services is more than your policy covers. It may also be a good idea to purchase extra health care insurance to cover services such as dental therapy and physiotherapy as part of your OVHC policy.