Extras cover FAQS

All health funds are no longer permitted to cover a range of natural therapies from 1 April 2019.

Health funds are still permitted to cover remedial massage, myotherapy, Chinese herbal medicine consultations and acupuncture, which are the most common natural therapies services that members claim for.

Here is an overview of the changes to natural therapies:

Read more about the removal of some natural therapies here.

From 1 April 2019, all health funds are no longer permitted to pay benefits for yoga and Pilates services.

The Department of Health has stated the reason behind the removal of some natural therapies is because: “a review chaired by the former Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer found there is no clear evidence demonstrating the efficacy of the listed natural therapies.”

Read more about the Government’s decision to remove some natural therapies here.

Your cover will still have the same benefit limit for natural therapies after 1 April 2019. However, you’ll only be able to claim benefits for permitted natural therapy services including remedial massage, acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine consultation and myotherapy.

We’ve encouraged our members who claim for services that are being removed to use up their benefit limits before 1 April 2019.

To do this you just need to access the services before it’s removed from your cover on 1 April 2019. You can then submit your claim for the service up to two years after the date you received it.

The natural therapies that have been removed only account for 0.6% of claims we pay towards, so financially the impact is minimal.

However, savings made from the removal of the natural therapies listed by the Government will be redistributed into benefit improvements for our members.