We know health insurance isn’t straightforward at the best of times. And when it comes to changing private health insurance providers or policies it’s normal to be wanting answers to some questions.
We’ve put all the questions and answers in one place, so you can get back to doing the things you want to do.
Switching to ahm
Wondering how to switch health insurance providers? It’s easy! You can browse our products and then sign up easily online.
Just tell us the name of your current health insurer when you join, and if you give us permission, we’ll organise the changeover for you.
And when your cover starts with ahm, you get a cooling off period of 30 days. That means you can cancel your policy and we’ll refund any premiums paid if you haven't made a claim in that time. You can also change health insurance plans at any time but be sure to ask about things like waiting periods and changes to your premiums, limits or excess.
Browse our cover
Common questions
But remember: at ahm, you need to join within 30 days of leaving your previous Australian health insurance company if you want the waiting periods you've already served for equivalent services to be recognised.
This means you’ll generally only need to serve waiting periods for any treatments or items:
- that were not included under your previous cover
- for which you have not fully served the waiting period
- that have an increased benefit (e.g. upgrading from a Restricted to an Included hospital service or increasing an annual limit on an Extras cover). If you’ve served the waiting periods for the lower benefits on your previous cover with equivalent service inclusions, benefits will be paid at the lower level until you’ve served your new waiting periods for the higher amount.
Cooling off period
And when your cover starts with ahm, you get a cooling off period of 30 days. That means you can cancel your policy and we’ll refund any premiums paid if you haven't made a claim in that time.
Find out more about changing health insurance companies here.
If you’re changing to a new company, you can usually contact the new company directly and sign up, using their website for example. The new company will usually handle the transfer for you.
If you’re going to change to ahm, you can browse our products and then sign up easily online.
If you’re staying at the same company but changing policies, this can usually be handled online or over the phone too.
Most of our existing ahm members can change their cover online by logging in and going to Change Cover. If Change Cover is not available for your policy or there is money owing on your account, simply contact us and we’ll help you review the details and change your cover.
At ahm you can choose to start your health insurance cover now or any date in the future. You can also backdate your cover to the day after you left your previous health insurance company (provided this period is 30 days or less) to make sure you have continuous cover.
No matter what time of the year or where you’re at in your policy, you can change, switch or browse other health insurance policies. It doesn’t matter if you’re 3 days or 3 years in, you should be able to change or switch health insurance policies, whether it’s from the same company or a new company.
It’s good to check and consider your annual limits if you’re changing or switching health insurance. This is because health insurers can choose whether limits run on a financial year (like ahm) or calendar year (like most others).
If you switch to ahm, you get a cooling off period of 30 days. That means you can cancel and we will refund you your premium if you haven't made a claim in that period. You’ve got to be a brand new ahm member for this cooling off period to apply.
It may be better to join directly with the insurance fund as products vary between what you can see on comparison websites and what the company can offer you if you join direct.
You need to join ahm within 30 days of leaving your previous Australian health fund if you want the waiting periods you've already served for equivalent services to be recognised.
ahm doesn’t accept portability from either international insurers or where a person is transferring from an overseas workers or overseas student products, or for overseas visitors products for LHC reasons.