St. Lukes Health

This non-profit health insurer offers generous cover, but has some notable drawbacks. Their fixation on Tasmanian wellness centres is irrelevant to mainland customers. Seems to be for Tasmanian who are not fund members. Backend systems are slow and unreliable, with occasional outages. The UX is inconsistent and feels unpolished. Expect more call… Read more

centre contact than you'd get with comparable providers, and tansaction processing times of 3–5 days that feel like a throwback to the era of batch processing. The app is third-party.

Highly Recommended to anyone requiring Medical Cannabis I just switched my extra from Bupa and have had an amazing experience so far with claims being paid really fast with no issues so far. One of the only health funds to provide cover for medical cannabis. I really appreciate St Luke's staff covering something so important to me especially… Read more

it helping me have a better quality of life with suffering Chronic Pain and other issues. If you don't change your policy i will keep my cover with you. Had one issue with the first payment for the premiums but it was fixed quickly with one phone call.

Switched from another private health provider to St Luke’s. We were not happy with the other providers included dental extras. Previously would pay around $200-250 out of pocket for a basic dental check and clean. After switching to St Luke’s - I have just had a dentist check, clean and x-rays which did not cost anything out of pocket. For a… Read more

family of 4, this is a big saving!!

I did switch dentists to one that provided this to St Luke’s customers - but it was a really good dentist.

So overall - has been terrific so far!

Claims take excessive time to process refund. In this economic climate this serves your members poorly. Phoning customer service and suffering through the obligatory 15 minute wait to speak to a person is painful as you are forced to listen to pre-recorded information directing you to the web page- they don't actually want to speak to you. Have… Read more

been with St Lukes for over 10 years and this is one issue they have no interest in resolving. Was told this time of year claims were taking longer to process- not sure why March is so hectic????

Poor claim turnaround times – St Lukes seem to be spending / investing in local events (which are really just advertising for expensive health and wellness brands) rather than putting their members' money into actually paying for decent customer service and timely claim turnaround. Currently claims are taking up to 10 business days to turn around, which is really poor… Read more

compared with other providers who turn claims around in 2 to 3 days (5 days absolute max). St Lukes claim that they have a 5 to 7 business day turnaround, and that this is because they are a small provider with too much member demand - however they seem to be able to afford to do a whole load of frilly, unnecessary things to the detriment of their members.

A friend of mine called to enquire about joining (she wondered whether my experiences were an anomaly, and thought it worth seeing how St Lukes might respond to her raising my experiences with them), and told them about my poor claim turnaround experiences, and she told me that the St Lukes rep she spoke with couldn't care less about my claim experiences, and spoke judgementally and pejoratively about me to her, which she felt was unprofessional. My friend was understandably appalled and decided not to join St Lukes, and I have now switched to another provider. There are a few gems in St Lukes' customer service team who claim that these experiences aren't representative of St Lukes' as a whole, however my experience would seem to indicate that the few gems are the exception rather than the rule.

Great Cover - Great Benefits - Easy to deal with – Cooperate client who has had an amazing experience with St Luke's. Top Cover - Great Support - Great Price Show details

Great Service – Joined recently and had a phone call on Saturday to ask if I had any questions and any problems, great follow up. Show details

Our error but you are to blame !! – Citibank informed me that St Lukes made a faulty direct debit which resulted in my cover being terminated. The expiry date of for direct debit was 08/23 and had been in place since 08/20. St Lukes submitted the incorrect expiry date. St Lukes blamed me for their error in a letter. When I phoned to inform them of issue, they refused to accept… Read more

responsibility or accountability. Poor business practice and customer support at its worst. DISGUSTING CONDUCT.

Poor customer service – Unhappy with the way the phone operator dealt with me. Will be leaving this fund based on customer service alone Show details

Front staff are the best !! – I've said it before and I'll say it again - you can't get any better customer service than what you receive when you walk in their front door in Launceston. A million thanx Jo for your help and friendliness shown this morning. Kind regards - Julie Ireland Show details

Steal your money & do not care if you live or die in COVID – They say "Our promise to our members is to help them stay healthy, get well, live better while delivering peace of mind." Bald faced LIES. If you have chosen 12 months direct debit to save money, they do NOT advise when your 12 months of membership is due & that they are about to deduct your next year of premiums. Then they do NOT tell you they… Read more

have just deducted a payment. In fact they have made a cynical corporate decision to stay completely SILENT about when money is going out of your account, thus not allowing you the option to review & cancel your membership before it becomes due like all other reputable organisations. Indeed the only alert I received was legally mandated correspondence about a premium rise to alert me to the fact that I was still being charged for unwanted insurance which I tried to cancel. THEN they LIE by saying they did not get your phone call when you rang to cancel your membership & they will therefore NOT refund 12 months of UNUSED premiums in the middle of a pandemic crisis which has devastated job, home & finances, physical & mental health. Weeks of pleading with them to refund my unused premium, months of being IGNORED, GHOSTED and absolutely NO COMPASSION for the fact that this is destabilising my mental health to the point of SELF HARM. St Lukes are greedy, lying, charlatans who could not care less about the extreme distress being caused by Covid19, let alone delivering on their written promise to help people to live better with peace of mind! SHAME ON YOU ST LUKES.

Avoid. Dishonest and incompetent – I signed with St Lukes with full gold hospital cover - and well after signing, we discovered we needed IVF. We had not even been trying for a baby before signing with them, so no way of knowing we needed it. Once I found out we needed IVF I phoned to check we were covered and was told YES! They even told me it would be zero hospital excess, which… Read more

I pointed out was not right! However 1 day before my surgery, they tried to tell me my infertility was pre-existing and would not be covered. When I disputed that, they asked me to get my doctors to sign forms to validate the timeline I had given. I did that. Still not good enough, I was told it was pre-existing without explanation. I find this treatment appalling. I have complained to the ombudsman and switched to a different fund which is better value anyway. Frauds!

Everything is a problem for St. Luke's – During one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through (a cancer scare which required surgical intervention), I had to fight tooth and nail to have my surgical claim approved by St Luke's. They paid in the end, but only after three refusals and three appeals which took months, and after my specialist doctor also chased them up for me in her… Read more

own time. Even after they agreed to pay, everything continued to be a problem. I had to spend hours on the phone coordinating payments between them and the hospital, because St Luke's had "system issues". There was a two week turn around time for them to let me know that I cannot simply submit my surgeon's invoice to them, that I had to submit it via Medicare, even though I was previously advised by their customer service consultant to submit the invoice to their general email inbox - as is usually the case for general claims. St Luke's still use snail mail responses by default, so you will wait weeks to receive a response about anything. There appears to be little to no software automation in their systems at all. Go ahead and support a small business if you choose, however, be prepared for your tough health times to be tougher if you choose them as your insurer, as mine were. Really, the last thing you need when you're going though a metastatic cancer scare is to have a difficult health insurer to further complicate things.

Don’t choose it – I recently purchased a pair of prescription sunglasses from clearly, St lukes claims it’s a normal sunglasses and refused for claim. The receipt clearly states the RX sunglasses with all prescription data. Very disappointed. Show details

Keep the money in YOUR pockets! – Far too difficult to make a claim. Wasted a lot of money. Very difficult to claim upfront or just pay a gap as they aren't a preferred Health Insurer. My premiums increased (without warning) within a week of me joining & I had chosen the Super Extras plan for it's "good value and cover"- HA! I could/should have spent all the money on our health upkeep instead of giving it away. Show details

Not as good as it once was – I've been a member for over a decade and until this year rated St Luke's highly. No more as it seems to be following Medibank and BUPA in removing or changing its benefits. Case in point-it suddenly introduced a $250 co-payment for hospital day surgery (previously there was none). There was a hefty premium rise this year but as far as I can tell… Read more

benefits in my extras cover were not increased. Supposedly a mutual (non-profit) fund but their recent antics make me wonder.

Great Extras cover for my family – One of the only places I could find that let us have a very high level of extras cover without having to have hospital cover. Best value cover for my family I've seen.  Show details

Overall OK but – I've been with them for over a decade and this not-for-profit fund is good value. Its customer service can be variable and at one time I had to indicate to them I would go the the Health Insurance Ombudsman to get a matter resolved. The matter was then resolved but some of the middle management there act like they are doing you a great favor by allowing you to pay contributions.  Show details

Great extras cover and easy to deal with – I changed to St Lukes for Extras cover last March, to gain cover for planned major dental surgery this year. Choice.com rated St Lukes as best for high level extras cover at a reasonable cost, and I've been very happy with them. I claim for a massage each month, and the rebates on my massages alone make the extras premium worthwhile, even before… Read more

the major dental rebate. St Lukes has an app for claiming, so I can upload a photo/screenshot of my paid invoices, and submit within a few clicks. Rebate is in my account within a few days.

Excellent rebates – We have been with St Lukes Extras for years. Very satisfied with excellent rebates and customer service over the phone. Whenever we go to the orthodontist or dentist, the receptionist always comments at how little or no cost we actually pay. And that is not at the expense of our premiums which are comparable to otherr funds. People behind us at… Read more

the counter always ask us when we move away from the counter, having only paid out a small gap or none at all. We will always recommend St Lukes!!!

Switched to St. Lukes, haven't regretted it! – I have been with St lukes for a while now and had only claimed dental and had been really impressed with the dental side of things (no out of pocket for dental checks, clean, x-rays). Over the weekend I had my eyes tested and was told I needed glasses. The optometrist I went to had an agreement with St. Lukes and in total my bill came to over… Read more

$800. After discounts were applied for being with St. Lukes and then actually making a claim, my out of pocket was only $69!! I love St. Lukes and would recommend them to EVERYONE!

Great Cover – We have been with St Luke's for a few years now. I find their claims time very quick. I have never had a problem with a claim taking very long at all. Once submitted, the refund is usually back in my account within a couple of days.  Show details

Impressed with customer service – Fortunately I have not had to claim as yet. Very impressed with the customer service from Belinda at the Hobart office really helped my daughter and I work around how we could change over from BUPA. I saved money. I'm impressed that I am not dictated to by which dentist or physio etc I have to go to  Show details

No response – Sent two emails to St Lukes via their website regarding switching from Medibank Private and never heard back from them, this was around 3 and 5 months ago. Nothing. Crickets. I know I should instead phone them but why have an 'email enquiry' section on their website if they don't look at it?  Show details

Takes so long to make a claim – I have been with many health funds never had a claim that takes well over a month and still ongoing. It is not first time I made the claim and disappoint me that I have wait for this long, it stops me whether I would continue my treatment with my long term practitioner. Utterly disappointed, don't understand why I would want to continue with St Lukes at all.  Show details

Excellent Customer Service and reasonably priced – I have been with Medibank Private for over 30 years and have recently found that they their premiums have skyrocketed and the amount received back on claims is a joke. So it was time to change our health insurance cover. After a lot of research and phone calls, I found St Lukes. They were very helpful with all of my queries, and their premiums… Read more ·  1

are substantially less than those of Medibank. We have their Packaged Gold cover for Hospital and Extras. When comparing companies, it appears that St Lukes claim payments are substantially more generous than Medibank Private, and they don't have preferred providers.

I have made one claim on my phone app a few days after joining and it was a very easy process. The money was transferred into my account promptly. So far, so good. We will need to make a few dental claims shortly - which should be a good test. They say they will refund 100% of all preventative dental claims and allow for 2 such claims per person per annum.

So far, I'm very pleased to have made the move.