In this article we’re going to explore 4 major types of insurance in Australia that you should cover yourself for complete protection.
- Health insurance
- Car insurance
- Home and contents insurance
- Travel insurance.
Table of Contents
1. Health Insurance In Australia
Let’s get started! Overseas student health cover (OSHC) If you have it, it will contribute to the cost. if you need medical treatment, in and out of hospital. It will cover cost of prescription medications and it will contribute to the ambulance emergency services as well. So who’s going to organised your OSHC? Well, often you have to do it yourself or your institution in Australia will help to organise it for you.
Whatever the case just make sure you’ve got it. Check with your agent or do your own research because if you don’t have it, you will not be allowed to study there. Note you do need to get OSHC, before you leave your home country. You’re need to quote that number in order to receive your student visa.
There’s a great website called OSHCAustralia.com.au you which allows you to compare different policies and it will help you get a good deal. Overseas student health coverage is fantastic but it doesn’t cover everything for example, your policy might not cover things like optical, dental or physiotherapy. If that is something that’s important to you, it might be worth taking out extra private health insurance.
You can get extra private health insurance from the same organisation you got your OSHC insurance cover. Just check with them. We are talking about the big organizations or companies like AHM or Allianz or Medibank or BUPA, those sorts of companies.The Australian government has a really powerful website to compare health insurance policies easily. That is at privatehealth.gov.au so check that out.
2. Home and contents insurance in Australia
So the next one we’re looking at is home and contents insurance. Now, the key is in the name. Home and contents insurance specially designed to cover you for the building you live in and the stuff inside it. Now as your whole, probably renting in Australia, you probably do not need to take out building insurance or home insurance because that part of the insurance is usually covered by the landlord. However, you may want to cover yourself with contents so that’s getting contents insurance. Then we’re looking at your personal belongings inside your house and that will cover you in terms of like theft and fire and damage and things like that.
Just be careful, because every policy is different. Lots of policies in terms of contents insurance will only cover theft and fire but other policies may also cover damage. So the rule of thumb is the more you pay the more cover you get. Just keep that in mind, when you’re researching contents insurance. If you live in a share house, you can choose to split the one policy but you can also choose to get your own policy for your own belongings that’s a good option too especially if you don’t like dealing with your housemates on very personal things like that.
If you’re living in managed student accommodation, just check with the student accommodation facility about whether or not contents insurance is covered under the lease. Some of them are, but if they’re not you can actually get your own policy through the accommodation provider usually, so just check with them about that if it’s not covered already.
3. Car insurance in Australia
Now there are essentially four different types of car insurance if you choose to buy a car or drive a car in Australia and we gonna go through all four of them now. You should also check how to get discount on car insurance.
Compulsory third party insurance
Okay so the first one is compulsory third party insurance,now as the name suggests it is compulsory. This insurance covers you for injury to another person in an certain accident. It doesn’t cover damage to your property or anyone or anyone else’s property. It is compulsory in every state and territory in Australia and in most cases it’s actually included in the registration of the vehicle but in some states is not, so you just need to check you’re covered for compulsory third party insurance.
Third party property Insurance
The second type is third party property insurance. Now this covers you for damaging someone else’s property and legal costs associated with that. If you’re driving a cheap car and you smash into a Lamborghini this is the kind of insurance policy you want. The name suggests that it has coverage restriction and limitation. This only covers fire damage and theft. Some policies do cover damage from collision but not all of them, so you need to check that one.
Comprehensive insurance
Comprehensive insurance is the most comprehensive kind of car insurance you can get as it’s in the name, this covers everything from theft of vehicles damage to vehicles, malicious damage, weather damage, things like that and depending on the policy it usually covers damage and legal costs to other vehicles.
Some things to consider your policy premium which is the amount you pay every month. It will depend on a few factors such as your age, your driving record, where you store the car, the kind of car you have, those sorts of things and if you are interested in getting an insurance policy there’s so many websites online that will help you compare good policies. Try and work out the right one that is good for you.
4. Travel insurance In Australia
The last form of insurance is travel insurance which is very important. Now if you plan on traveling around Australia or traveling overseas and you’re a little bit weary that you know accidents do happen this is the insurance you need.
Travel insurance policies do vary widely but most of them do cover medical cover, evacuations things like that also delayed flights, lost baggage, theft damage to property, those sorts of things.Just like every other kind of insurance the more you pay usually the more that is covered and just remember with travel insurance some places you go to in the world might result in you paying higher premiums.
For example if you go to the US, the premiums you pay, which is the amount you pay up front, can be a little higher than if you go to other countries because the cost of health care in the US is a bit higher than in other countries. There’s a great website to compare travel insurance options called comparethemarket.com.au