CBHS Health Insurance Review

If you are a current or former employee of the Commonwealth Bank Group and you are looking for private health insurance for the very first time, or want to switch from your current provider, then CBHS Health Insurance might be the right choice for you.

What follows is a comprehensive CBHS health fund review, focusing on the cover they provide, their benefits, and member discounts. Use this assessment to your full advantage to determine if they’ll be able to cover what you need, whether they offer true value for money, and if they exclude cover for anything that might be important to you.

It’s also a good idea to compare other health insurance companies so that you can be absolutely certain that CBHS Insurance is the right fit for your unique requirements.

Who is CBHS Health Fund?

CBHS was founded in 1951 and is Australia’s third largest restricted private health insurer with over 200,000 members. They specialise in providing affordable Hospital, Extras, and Package Cover exclusively to those working for or who used to work for the Commonwealth Bank Group (CBA) and its subsidiaries.

This private health fund is a ‘not-for-profit’ organisation, which means they do not owe profit dividends to shareholders. This gives them the freedom to invest into improving their product offerings, including membership discounts, customer support services, and healthcare initiatives. CBA subsidiaries include:

Who is eligible to join CBHS insurance?

While CBHS is only available to those who work for or used to work for Commonwealth Bank Group and its subsidiaries, your family can also receive cover. For example, if you worked for the Commonwealth Group Bank five years ago, then your ex-wife is still eligible to get cover from CBHS. People eligible to join CBHS Health include:

• Current permanent employees and contractors.
• Former permanent employees and contractors.
• Extended family members, including parents, spouses/partners, adult children, siblings, and grandchildren and their families.
• Current and former spouses/partners.

CBHS Cover Options

CBHS offers Hospital Cover policies, Extras Cover policies, and Package Cover policies. You can decide which option best suits you and your family or alternatively select one of their Lifestyle Cover categories and they will recommend policies based on your selection.  

Hospital Cover: From affordable entry-level policies to more expensive cover that offers complete peace of mind, these policies will give you access to private hospitals, your own choice of doctor, and great health and wellness programs. Hospital Cover options include Basic, Limited, Active, and Comprehensive Hospital Cover.

Extras Cover: With Extras Cover you get benefits for dental, prescribed optical, therapies, general health, healthcare aids, and wellness services. Extras Cover options include Essential Extras, Intermediate Extras, and Top Extras Cover.

Package Cover: You can choose a ready-made package option that combines Hospital and Extras cover, ensuring you and your family’s health is taken care of. These four Package options include FlexiSaver, Kickstart, StepUp, and Prestige Cover.

Lifestyle Cover: Because the four lifestyle options include policy recommendations for Single, Couple, Family, and Single Parents, you will find policies that are tailored to your specific lifestyle.

Review CBHS Hospital Cover

You need hospital insurance to cover all kinds of in-patient procedures, and CBHS offers four simple hospital policies, all of which will help you cover the costs related to these services, from pregnancy to and brain surgery.

Review CBHS Extras Cover

CBHS offers three different Extras Cover policies, with different limits and features depending on which option you choose.

It’s important to examine all the features, limits, and benefits of each policy to make sure you choose the best option for your specific needs.

Review CBHS Packaged Cover

CBHS has neatly bundled the best of their Extras and Hospital Cover treatments and services into 4 Package Cover options.

List of additional CBHS benefits you might enjoy

In order to create health insurance policies that gives you true value for money, while also helping you enjoy a healthier life, CBHS offers a variety of benefits. Depending on your policy, you could have access to:

• Best Doctors: A network of leading expert specialists to review your medical case.
• Choice Network: Gain access to no gap services through this network of providers.
• Health Management Program: Telephonic advice and support to help you become healthier, for example, if you have a chronic illness like heart disease or diabetes.
• Hospital-in-the-Home: Known as a Hospital Substitute Treatment, this benefit gives you to option of staying to recover from treatments or rehab.
• Gap Assist:  To help you reduce your out-of-pocket expenses because of hospitalisation, certain policies include this medical gap benefit, which provides  $200 per person per calendar year towards out-of-pocket expenses.
• Member Discounts: Discounts on gym memberships, eyewear and contact lenses for a range of optical suppliers, and for a range of other health services, like Yoga and Pilates.
• Support Aids and Appliances: CBHS will pay benefits towards a wide range of hearing aids, healthcare appliances and other supportive wear or a monitoring devices.
• Support Groups: Support is a necessary part of your journey, which is why CBHS offers access to support groups for people who suffer from a similar health issue to you.
• Wellness Benefits: Generous benefits on health checks, which includes breast exams, bone density tests, skin cancer screening, bowel/prostate cancer screening and more.
• Zero Co-Payments: You won’t have co-payments for children when they are admitted to hospital.

What’s not covered? | Exclusions

CBHS Hospital policies will only pay out benefits at the minimum rate, as specified by the law, if you are admitted into a non-agreement private hospital. A list of CBHS general exclusions include:

• Hospital services that you use within the policy waiting period.
• Nursing home fees or respite care.
• Medicine that is considered “take-home/discharge drugs”.
• Services and treatments that relate to assistances not covered with your policy.
• Services obtained more than 24 months ago.
• Treatments and services that you obtained from outside of Australia.
• Prostheses that are used for cosmetic reasons and where no Medicare benefit is payable.
• Ambulance transfers between hospitals.
• Treatments provided to you by a family member or business partner.
• Services or treatments for which you cannot provide itemised and original receipts.
• If you claim for Extras procedures but have already exceeded the limit.
• Services or treatments you receive while your membership is suspended.

Frequently Asked Questions about CBHS Health Insurance

If you’re looking for a health insurance policy that gives you the cover you need,  for a price you can afford, it is worth shopping around and comparing health policies.