Lifetime Health Cover loading
Join hospital cover after 30 and your premium carries a loading. See what waiting costs you, and how it clears.
Your details
Your loading
10%
5 years past age 30
This loading stays for 10 years of continuous cover, then clears.
Why waiting costs money
LHC loading adds 2% to your hospital premium for each year you are over 30 when you first join. It caps at 70%.
The loading is worked out from your age on your base day, the 1 July after your 31st birthday. Join before then and you pay the base rate for life.
Every year you delay past 30 adds another 2%, and it sticks for a decade once you join. This is the strongest reason not to wait.
When the loading clears
The loading is not for life. Hold hospital cover for 10 years in a row and it drops to zero. You then pay the base rate.
The 10 years must be continuous. Short gaps are allowed, but they add up. You get 1094 days of absence in total across your lifetime.
Go past that and your loading is recalculated. The clock starts again. This is why dropping cover for a year to save money often costs more than it saves.
Who does not pay a loading
Some people are over 30 and still pay the base rate:
- You joined before the 1 July after your 31st birthday. That is your base day.
- You were born on or before 1 July 1934. The scheme does not apply to you.
- You are a new migrant. You get until your first anniversary of full Medicare eligibility to join at the base rate.
- You were overseas for a continuous period of at least one year. Those days do not count against you.
Serving Australian Defence Force members and some Veterans' Affairs card holders also have their own rules.
Loading, levy and surcharge
Three different things get confused. LHC loading raises your premium. The 2% Medicare levy is a tax almost everyone pays. The Medicare Levy Surcharge is an extra tax on higher earners without cover. Cover can remove the surcharge, but only 10 years clears a loading.
Lifetime Health Cover questions
What is Lifetime Health Cover loading?
It is a surcharge on your hospital premium for taking out cover after age 30. It adds 2% for each year you waited, up to 70%.
When does the loading go away?
After 10 years of continuous hospital cover, the loading is removed and your premium drops back to the base rate.
Is LHC loading the same as the Medicare Levy Surcharge?
No. LHC loading raises your premium and is paid to your insurer. The Medicare Levy Surcharge is a tax paid to the ATO. Holding cover can remove the surcharge but does not remove an existing loading until 10 years pass.
What if I never take out hospital cover?
You pay no loading, because it only applies to premiums. But if you join later, the loading is based on your age then, so waiting makes your first policy more expensive for a decade.