The extent of the OSHC coverage depends on the health insurance purchased. The fine print of the insurance policy document will help understand what are the specific costs covered under a policy.

An OSHC policy generally covers

• Medical Costs
• Hospital Costs
• Ambulance service costs
• Limited Pharmaceutical costs

A bare minimum standard policy or an OSHC basic policy does not cover for

• Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Chiropractic treatments,
• Dental and Orthodontics treatments
• Optical treatment - including contact lenses and eye glass prescriptions

One can purchase an OSHC extras policy if they need extra coverage for the above treatment purposes.

A waiting period is the amount of time you have to wait before you can start to claim on your health insurance. You cannot claim for costs arising during the waiting period if such costs arise from a pre-existing condition.

The waiting period is calculated as 12 months commencing from:

• The date Student or Student dependant (as the case may be) arrived in Australia.

Yes. As per the OSHC deed, Insurance providers should acknowledge the waiting period served with a previous Insurance provider when transferring to a new provider as long as the provider states the student transfers to a policy of the same level or lower.

• Pre-existing conditions, ailments or illnesses of a psychiatric nature - 2 months
• Pregnancy related conditions - 12 months
• All other pre-existing conditions, ailments or illnesses for hospital and outpatient medical services - 12 months

All OSHC insurance providers pay towards the GP costs. OSHC covers 100% of the MBS fee for GP/doctor services. i.e If you visit a doctor, who charges as per the MBS schedule, then your overseas student health insurance will cover 100% of the cost of the doctor visit. If the doctor you visit is charging more than set fee prescribed by the MBS, then the extra fee is called a gap fee. OSHC providers do not cover gap fee. The gap fee is then paid by the student.

Direct Billing means that if you hold a current OSHC policy and go to one of the Insurance providers?Network Doctor (who may sit in a Clinic, medical centre or a hospital), the bill will be sent directly to Insurance Provider and students will not have to pay out of pocket or submit a claim.