HIF (Health Insurance Fund)

Recently received notice from HIF that my Goldstarter hospital cover will be changed to Bronze Plus starter hospital ( because of the reforms).
Letter mentioned how great the new cover will be and listed the cover inclusions/exclusions however what HIF FAILED to mention is that AMBULANCE COVER will no longer be offered under their hospital policies. I'm a NSW resident, so being informed that ambulance cover will not be available is important to know.
I think HIF is seriously in breach of product disclosure/changes and I will be escalating this matter to the Industry ombudsman.

Spoke to Carly regarding claiming online as the app wasnt playing ball.
She has gone above and beyond exceeding expectations after I have had issues with my card at my naturopath visits.
This lady is truly an asset to your awesome company. I wish I switched from HBF a lot earlier.
Thank you !!!!

Hi, Been with HIF for a few years now (I think close to about 6+ years), and didnt have any real issues.. While hospital cover was good, the extras was not. Anyway, kept increasing the premiums, so decided to shift to another provider who was cheaper with better coverage! Feel the service and coverage is going down.. they started discontinuing a few products and the service is not as good as it used to be.

I will be shifting shortly.. HIF - life your game or you will start loosing customers (like me, for example, who have been with you and loyal..)..

Cheers.

We took this cover two years ago as we were planning for a future pregnancy and were aware of the 12 month wait. We looked online until we found the HIF Goldsaver cover, which was perfect and good value if all you wanted was pregnancy and none of the other medical policies that you never end up using.
We got a letter from HIF yesterday advising that under new government laws, our current cover will be terminated and in order to keep our pregnancy policy, we had to swap to a Gold hospital cover, which is $500 more a year!!!!!
This raise is unreasonable and completely unjustified, and because all pregnancy covers require a 12 month wait, we cannot swap provider and are stuck with HIF. Once the pregnacy is carried out, we will be swapping health insurance, if not getting rid of it completely. Very unhappy with HIF, I do not recommend it.

Just over 2 years, nothing like it was presented, the result of a couple of claims was dismal beware of this scamming mob

I signed up to HIF as it was the cheapest option with maternity cover. My hospital cover only included a 3 night stay and I ended up staying 5 nights. I knew I would need to pay a fee for those days and was pleasantly surprised at how low the fee was.
They covered all other aspects of my admission including my elective c-sections costs, and I only had to pay an excess twice, despite being admitted to hospital several times during my pregnancy.
Customer service was also great when I had questions prior to signing up.

Deeply unstatisfyed at the moment, I change my level of cover to a lower grade, which was supposed to be $230ish a month... which was changed a month ago.. yesterday they took out $800 of my account!! After calling them because my account is now overdrawn because no one has a spare $800 laying around, they couldn’t give it back to me straight and way.. because of as they said “business” even though it was their fault! So now I’m over drawn, my husband couldn’t even put petrol in his car, and they have said it could still take 4-5 days to get it back... so I can’t buy my children food. I’m so furious at their lack of accountability when they were in the wrong and they can’t give MY money back which effectively I feel they like I have been robbed.

As a new member with HIF the customer service has been fantastic. A big thank you to Chad and David for sorting out the problem with our previous provider nib. 10 out of 10 for sevice. Thankyou

May 6th 2018 Update: excellent service

the policy was great value very easy to set up excellent customer support. very friendly and informative staff. I would recommend hif 100% to anyone looking for a private health fund.

Back in January this year, we received an ambulance bill, for one of the kids, I was panicking about how we would pay this amount and my partner suggested contacting HIF to see if it was covered and it was!! Such a big relief, process was explained, forms posted to us, very straight forward process. Very pleased and am happy to be supporting a WA NFP business.

After 5 years of paying for maternity cover, we were blessed with my son. We paid everything up front and after waiting 5 months for refunds of over $1,200 - were told that the Medicare client report we received was not sufficient proof that we had made the payments and we needed an additional report sent by Medicare directly to HIF. So I had to queue in the Medicare/Centrelink line for over 2 hours with a 5 month old baby to be told that HIF had been sent the information and they were unable to physically print it or send it to me because it was internal hospital coding - already sent to HIF.
I tell HIF, they tell me Medicare is wrong. I queue again at Medicare for over an hour to be told the same thing. Finally, after 10 calls, in December HIF processes my refund. No apology, no compensation. I provide them with some feedback to prevent another mum from suffering the same fate. Over one year later I get a call from a claims supervisor who lies and says he called me in December last year - funnily enough my voicemail and Telstra records can prove otherwise. He makes no apology and accuses me of causing a problem - preventing the refund when I physically had nothing to do with the communications between Medicare and HIF. What a way to treat a new mother. Just what you need when you are already sleep deprived and exhausted. I should have stayed with HBF.

I had 2 medical problems. First, something in my head that I needed a GP, they couldn't give me an appointment for before than 1 week, I couldn't wait and they didn't pay me nothing for the other GP. The second time I went to emergency hospital because of a cut in my leg, 12 stitches, and they didn't cover me any 1 dollar from de 1200 that I had to pay. Never again

We have been with HIF for some time and have just received advice of the premium increase on April 1st and HIF is the highest I have seen at 10.5% which smacks in the face of Government advice that the average would be 3.5%. Going to be searching for another provider to switch to.

Wanted to share my recent experience with HIF. I was a bit shocked at the size of an ambulance bill. HIF took care of it within a day! They were efficient and helpful. Matt from claims was exceptional dealing with my claim in a timely manner. I signed the claims form, sent it in and didn't have to pay a cent. This really highlights to me the value of my Special Options cover with HIF and I was simply delighted with the service. In what otherwise could have been a very stressful time, HIF were happy to answer my questions and alleviate my worries immediately as well as take care of the bill as soon as I sent it in. This I why I am with HIF and feel confident working with them. Thank you guys. :)

I am scheduled for surgery tomorrow- I was given the go ahead by HIF. I later receive a call from the hospital saying I cannot have my surgery because I have a pre-existing condition and am only covered from July 17. My surgery is not pre-existing and has occurred due to sudden developments. I am furious and extremely distressed by this turn of events. My case is being reviewed and with some common sense I can go ahead for surgery tomorrow. If not - a thunderstorm of action is going to rain down upon HIF.

I only needed health insurance for tax purposes and so signed up for this one. It was the best value from what I can tell, and there was a $50 off coupon online for it too. I don't plan on claiming on anything so if you want what is called a "junk cover", this is a good option.

We are delighted with the level of offerings, service and support that HIF gave before, during and after my husband's double knee replacement. So much better than our previous insurer.

Switched to HIF Gold cover 3 yrs ago, was going to be $3500.00 out of pocket for husbands sinus surgery so decided to go public, wait time 3 months and no cost. Not one of 9 surgeons contacted participated in hif gap scheme and yet their premiums have gone up substantially since joining, will be switching. Very disappointed

I have had to undergo two surgeries this year and HIF has covered both with only a small out of pocket payment for an anaesthetist and a once off excess fee of $200 for the year. I don't have top hospital cover being in my early 20s but the level of cover I have has been great. I also have super extras which has been fantastic in the past couple of years having to need glasses and requiring some major dental treatment. Never had an issue with claims and HIF have always been helpful on the phone with enquiries.

I have been a HIF member for over 40 years. When it was paper and pen era, I found no problem to make a claim. Now in this digital era, this is the first time I make a claim online. A claim has been sent twice to the email address, claims@hif.com.au, as shown in the HIF website, and have been knocked back every time.

Just wonder what is happening? Is this email address obsolete? I have tried to lodge a claim online but to no avail due to time restrictions. Why the time limits?
Can someone please point me to the right direction where should I send my claim to, or forward my claim to the relevant department for processing?

Scanning the receipts, trying to lodge the claim online but to no avail, then downloading and filling in the claim form electronically, preparing the email, sending and re-sending the email, double check the email address on the web, all in all it took me more than two hours and still cannot lodge this claim electronically. It would probably take me less than 15 minutes to scan and print copies of the receipts, fill in the claim form and put everything in an envelope and put it it the mail! What a waste of my time!!!

Other than that, I am quite happy with HIF in terms of direct claims from service providers. Telephone calls to HIF wait time have been around 5 minutes. This is very acceptable comparing to ringing the Telcos and the usual wait time is 30 to 40 minutes.

I have HIF insurance for a few years now. I have used them for 2 shoulder surgeries and for the kids teeth and the usual physio etc. No real complaints, I just wish we could dump the junk benefits and make the policies cheaper.