Lifetime Health Cover loading calculator
Lifetime Health Cover adds 2% to the hospital part of your premium for every year you are over 30 when you first take out hospital cover, unless you hold it by the 1 July after your 31st birthday. It is capped at 70% and removed after 10 continuous years. Enter your date of birth to see your deadline, or your loading if it has passed.
Lifetime Health Cover
Enter your date of birth to see it.
An estimate. It does not count the 1,094 days you can be without cover, time overseas, or the rules for new migrants. privatehealth.gov.au has the full rules, and your insurer confirms your loading when you join.
How Lifetime Health Cover loading is worked out
| Age on the 1 July before joining | Loading |
|---|---|
| 30 or under | None |
| 31 | 2% |
| 35 | 10% |
| 40 | 20% |
| 50 | 40% |
| 65 or over | 70%, the cap |
- No loading applies if you hold hospital cover by the 1 July after your 31st birthday.
- It applies to the hospital part of the premium only, and the rebate does not reduce it.
- It is removed after 10 continuous years of hospital cover. At 30 June 2026, 1,209,359 people were paying one (APRA).
- You can be without hospital cover for a total of 1,094 days in your lifetime without it starting.
- People born on or before 1 July 1934 are exempt; new migrants have until the first anniversary of full Medicare registration.
Sources: privatehealth.gov.au, Lifetime Health Cover; Private Health Insurance Act 2007 s37; APRA, June 2026. Read 14 October 2026.
Common questions
Do I need private health insurance by 31?
To avoid Lifetime Health Cover loading, you need hospital cover by the 1 July after your 31st birthday. After that, a loading of 2% for each year over 30 applies to the hospital premium when you first join, capped at 70%.
How long does Lifetime Health Cover loading last?
Until you have held hospital cover for 10 continuous years, after which it is removed. Up to 1,094 days without cover over your lifetime do not count against you.
Does Lifetime Health Cover loading apply to extras?
No. It applies only to the hospital part of the premium, and the government rebate does not reduce it.
Is anyone exempt?
People born on or before 1 July 1934. Holders of a DVA Gold Card and ADF members on continuous full-time service are treated as having hospital cover, and new migrants have until the first anniversary of full Medicare registration. Source: privatehealth.gov.au.
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General information and an estimate only, not financial or tax advice. How this section is regulated.