Checked for accuracy by our qualified fact-checkers and verifiers. Find out more about fact-checking at CHOICE.
Established in 1932, HCF is Australia's largest nonprofit health fund with almost 1.9 million members. HCF has several dental and eyecare centres in Sydney, and offers health and wellbeing services such as quit smoking programs and swimming lessons. It's also part of Members Health, an alliance of nonprofit and mutual health funds.
Phone: 131 334
Website: hcf.com.au
HCF increased its health insurance premiums on 1 April 2024 by an average of 2.89%.
This compares with an average premium increase of 3.03% and is the smallest increase of the five major health funds:
If you want to check whether you're getting the best deal, you can review your health insurance at any time (in fact, it's good practice to do it at least once a year). To help you wade through the seemingly infinite options, our insurance experts developed a tool that lets you compare health insurance policies based on your needs so you can find cover that works for you, and potentially save yourself hundreds.
We'll help you compare cover and find the savings you need.
HCF has a Medium complaints rating.
When we score policies we give each fund a complaints rating, based on the number of complaints and serious disputes the Ombudsman deals with. We take into account the size of the fund, so big funds don't get automatically penalised for having more complaints. The ratings are Low, Medium and High. A Low rating is better than a High rating – it means the fund has fewer complaints and fewer serious disputes for its size.
A medical gap is the difference between Medicare's recommended fee and what your doctor actually charges for a treatment or service.
Health funds have agreements with particular doctors and hospitals to cover all of the gap, which are called 'no gap agreements', or part of that gap, which are called 'known gap agreements' (these will have lower out-of-pocket costs, usually less than $500).
Our graphic below displays the CHOICE gap rating, which takes into account the percentage of services where members either paid no gap or a known gap, compared to the state average.
The benefit amount your fund pays you for hospital services depends not only on the type of cover you buy, but also whether your fund has an agreement with the hospital where you're treated.
The table below shows how many hospital agreements HCF has in your state compared to the fund with the highest number (the industry maximum). Note that public hospitals don't have agreements with specific funds and are generally treated as though they're agreement hospitals.
Text-only accessible version5 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 6.
7 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.
90 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 92.
88 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 105.
1 private hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 1.
1 day hospital agreement out of an industry maximum of 2.
48 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 58.
39 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 54.
19 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 20.
19 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 31.
8 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 8.
6 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 9.
66 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 71.
53 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 80.
18 private hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 23.
16 day hospital agreements out of an industry maximum of 29.
All HCF extras, hospital and combined policies have emergency ambulance cover. Cover is capped for e xtras cover at one service per person / two per policy a year.
Do you need ambulance cover?Depending on where you live, you may not need a policy with ambulance cover.
Online claiming is available for dental, physio, therapies, pharmacy and artificial appliances, and there's an app (iOS and Android) for extras claiming.
We'll help you compare cover and find the savings you need.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
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We at CHOICE acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land on which we work, and pay our respects to the First Nations people of this country. CHOICE supports the First Nations people's Uluru Statement from the Heart.
In our role as a consumer advocate, CHOICE may publish opinions of the general insurance market, with the intention of improving general insurance for Australian consumers. In addition, ACA Insight Pty Ltd (AFSL 550139) (ACA Insight), owned by CHOICE, provides any general advice on general insurance products. This advice does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the appropriateness of the advice before acting on it. Read the Product Disclosure Statement relating to any insurance product before making a decision to buy it.