Private health insurance in the Northern Territory

Hospital cover can pay towards medically necessary procedures when you are admitted to hospital as a private patient and is available in four tiers: Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold. Below are the average prices in the NT for each tier compared to those of national premiums. These figures should be used as a guide rather than a direct quote.

The above numbers are based on monthly premiums for single-only policies that exempt you from the Medicare Levy Surcharge with a $750 excess. It doesn’t include any rebates, discounts or loadings. Plus policies are included in the base tier (e.g. Silver Plus policies are factored in with the silver category).

Extras cover doesn’t have levels like private hospital cover does. The cost of your extras cover will depend on a couple of factors, including how much cover you have, your annual limit and your health fund.

The average cost for extras in the NT is $76.07, compared to the national average of 84.73.¹ In fact, the NT has the lowest average cost for extras of all the Australian states and territories.

In NT, ambulances aren’t a free service or covered by Medicare.

The cost of ambulance services in the NT is based on both a callout fee (usually $407-$897) for the first 10 kilometres, and a per-kilometre fee of $5.80 after that.⁴ The biggest cost factor will be how far you need to travel.

If you have cover through St John Ambulance or your private healthcare includes ambulance cover, you may be able to claim a rebate for some or all of the ambulance fees. Northern Territorians who take out cover through St John Ambulance or a private health fund will be covered for ambulance services in any state in Australia.

If you hold an NT Pensioner Concession Card, you may be eligible for free ambulance transportation without needing ambulance cover.⁵

Private hospital cover can help cover the cost of inpatient hospital procedures in a private hospital setting. This includes a range of elective surgeries and other in-hospital treatments, as well as various fees associated with hospital stays.

Hospital cover policies are divided into four tiers, which are Basic, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The minimum number of clinical categories covered under each tier is legally required, so the treatments you’re covered for in each tier will be the same regardless of which provider you choose, however, insurers can include additional clinical categories from a tier above on their ‘plus’ policies.

Extras cover is health insurance that provides cover for out-of-hospital services. Also called ancillary cover, extras cover can include services including dental, optical, physiotherapy and more. Your eligibility to make a claim will depend on whether you’ve served a waiting period.