Step 4 - Choose a hospital

Your hospital costs include the inpatient stuff that specialists’ bills don’t, like an operating theatre, nursing care, bed and food (which can be surprisingly good in a private hospital).

Once you’ve chosen a specialist, ask which hospitals they work out of, as this is another opportunity to make decisions about your care and control your costs. How you do this depends on whether the service is covered or restricted.

Ask your specialist if they can treat you at an agreement private hospital, as this can help minimise your out-of-pocket costs. 

At an agreement hospital your insurance should cover most of the costs for covered services, but it’s important to ask the hospital about any additional expenses you may have.

They could be related to your care, like high-cost medicines or robotic surgery. Or non-medical stuff like TV, internet or phone use.

You’ll also have to pay any applicable excess on your cover.

You can avoid out-of-pocket costs at many (but not all) public hospitals. Ask what the hospital charges private patients and whether you’ll have to pay anything other than an excess (if you have one).

At a private hospital you could have a large bill as they’re likely to charge more than the amount we’ll pay for your accommodation (which is the fee set by the government for that service). You’ll also have to pay any operating theatre, intensive care or neonatal intensive care costs. Learn more about restricted services.