Switching Health Insurance. Is It Really That Tricky?
Life is all about change. And, it’s good to know you can update your health insurance to meet your changing needs. At RT Health we’re all about making sure you’ve got the cover that’s right for you – changing your cover to suit your family and lifestyle is important.
But did you know you can also switch health insurance between insurers? This is often called ‘switching’ health funds.
It’s fairly simple to change health insurers. Plus, you’re often able to take with you many of the waiting periods you’ve already served or partially served with you between health insurers.
Here we provide a run down on how easy it is to switch health insurance providers, and some tips on how RT Health can do the hard work for you!
We also provide some handy tips on things to check in on when changing your cover or your insurer.
How to switch health insurance providers
Like everything we do at RT Health, we make it easy. In just three simple steps you can be on your way to becoming a valued member of RT Health.
- Choose the RT Health cover that’s right for you. You can use our online quote and join tool or give us a call on 1300 886 123 to chat with a member of our team.
- Join online or over the phone. (We can’t wait for you to join us here at RT Health)
- We’ll take care of the rest! We’ll do all the paperwork, including getting in touch with your previous fund.
What happens with waiting periods if I switch health funds?
If you join RT Health within two months of leaving another health fund, we’ll recognise any waiting periods you’ve already served (or partially served). If you’ve joined us on a higher level of cover, you’ll need to serve waiting periods for any additional benefits that weren’t covered previously.
So, if you join RT Health on an equivalent level of cover and have already served your waiting periods, you’ll be able to make the most of your new RT Health cover straight away.
I’m going to switch health insurance to RT Health. When can I start claiming?
Great news! Once you’ve started to make payments and we’ve received your clearance certificate from your previous insurer, you can start to claim straight away (as long as you’re claiming benefits for an equivalent level of cover). If you’ve upgraded your level of cover when you joined us, there’ll be waiting periods until the new benefits kick in.
And, you’ll be able to keep submitting claims as long as your membership payments are up to date.
Benefit limits and excess payments when switching health funds
Benefit limits
When you’re switching health insurance providers, anything you’ve claimed from your previous fund will count in your RT Health limits. Put simply, this means that if you’ve already claimed $200 in optical benefits for the year, this will be considered when we look at any new claims you make with us. But don’t worry, extras benefit limits re-set every year on 1 January.
Lifetime limits
A lifetime limit is a benefit or service that you can only claim on your private health cover once in your lifetime. It applies to treatments or services that generally only occur as a one-off - like orthodontic treatments (braces). If you’ve already claimed benefits for services that have a lifetime limit with other funds you (unfortunately) won’t be able to claim them again from RT Health. Or any amount you’ve already claimed will be taken off what’s available to you.
Excess payments
If you join RT Health on the same excess you had with your previous fund, and you’ve already paid it once, you won’t need to pay it again in the same calendar year.
What if I change my mind?
We want you to be happy at RT Health. That’s why we offer a risk-free 30-day cooling off period. If we’re not the fund for you, and if you haven’t made a claim, we’ll refund your premiums. All the usual waiting periods apply during your cooling off period.
Ready to make the switch?
At RT Health, we make it easy. If you want to know more about getting health cover to suit your needs, you can:
We can’t wait to chat with you soon.
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