nib Hospital cover pays benefits towards your treatment, depending on your level of cover and whether you go to an nib Agreement Hospital, a non-agreement private hospital or a public hospital.
Before going to hospital, you should always make sure you're covered for the treatment you're having. Contact us or log in to check what you're covered for.
What's covered when you go to hospital?
Your health insurance, combined with Medicare if you're an Australian resident, will help cover the cost of your treatment as a private patient for services included in your hospital cover. Providing your procedure is covered and you attend an nib Agreement Hospital (or any public hospital as a private patient) nib covers you for:
Hospital accommodation (i.e. your bed and a private room if one is available)
Operating theatre fees
Intensive care fees
Labour ward fees
Meals
Common treatments and support treatments*
Associated treatment for complications and associated unplanned treatment^
nib will also cover the following in-line with our agreement with the hospital. You may have an out of pocket expense in some cases for these services:
Pharmaceuticals related to and provided during your admission. Any prescription medication dispensed on the discharge day may be claimable through your Extras cover but only if claimed at a pharmacy that is not on the hospital grounds
Other allied health services relevant to your treatment and provided during your admission such as physiotherapy, hydrotherapy or occupational therapy
Dressings, sutures, needles and other disposable items
Refer to your Policy Booklet or Fact Sheet for more information about what’s covered in hospital.
What’s not covered?
Some things aren't covered. Excluding these services helps to keep the cost of your health insurance down:
Luxury rooms and private room accommodation for same day procedures
TV hire, phone calls, newspapers, magazines, beauty salon services
Respite care
Take home items like crutches and drugs
Experimental treatments (and their disposable items) not recognised by Medicare
Procedures normally performed in a doctors surgery
Private hospital emergency fees
Donated blood, blood products, blood collection and storage
Outpatient services performed by a doctor or specialist
Theatre or specialist fees for procedures performed by a Podiatric Surgeon as these services are not eligible for a rebate through Medicare
You should always check what you're covered for before you go to hospital and contact us so we can help you keep any extra expenses to a minimum.
*Common treatments means a number of Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) items commonly used across services covered by your policy. Support treatments means a number of MBS items used to support a principal treatment covered by your policy. Common and support treatments will be covered in line with the level of cover your product provides for the principal treatment. Refer to the Policy Booklet for more information.
^Associated treatment for complications means treatment provided during an episode of covered hospital treatment to address a complication that arises during that episode. Associated unplanned treatment means unplanned treatment provided during an episode of covered planned surgery that is, in the view of the medical practitioner providing the unplanned treatment, medically necessary and urgent. Associated treatments will be covered in line with the level of cover your product provides for the principal treatment. Refer to the Policy Booklet for more information.
