Restricted fund for ADF and defence community.
2026 premium increase
+2.99%
Industry average: +4.41%(-1.42 pts vs avg)
Effective 1 April 2026.
About Defence Health
Restricted access fund serving current and former Australian Defence Force members, defence industry employees and their families. Member-owned, not-for-profit.
Typical strengths
- Consistently low rate rises
- High member satisfaction
- Strong claims paid ratio
Things to weigh up
- Eligibility restricted to the defence community
Premium increases — last 5 years
How Defence Health's gazetted average increase has tracked against the industry each April.
Defence Health has beaten the industry average 3 of the last 5 years.
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, gazetted premium rounds 2022–2026. Years without a published figure are shown as gaps, not zero.
How Defence Health performs for members
Size, complaints, retention and how much of a hospital bill members actually see covered — from the Ombudsman's 2023–24 report.
Complaints share
31.6%
More complaints than Defence Health's size would suggest.
Market share
2%
Share of all Australians with private health cover.
Member retention
92%
Members who stayed with the fund across the year.
Charges with no/known gap
91.8%
Hospital-related charges covered with no gap or a gap agreed up front.
Extras charges covered
43.1%
Average share of extras bills the fund's benefits pay.
Premiums returned as benefits
85%
Industry-leading funds return around 89–94% of premiums as benefits; the market typically returns 79–89%.
Agreement private hospitals
506
Private hospitals with agreements, where members are covered with no or known gaps.
Defence Health's 2023–24 complaints share was a significant outlier driven by a major system transformation in July 2023 — the Ombudsman notes this is not representative of its long-term record.
Source: Commonwealth Ombudsman, State of the Health Funds Report 2023–24, and Comparify's hospital agreement dataset.
Open policies right now
Every Defence Health policy currently open to new members, straight from the Government's PHIO dataset.
- Basic3
- Bronze4
- Silver4
- Gold2
7
Extras-only policies
From $12/mo
2
Combined policies
Full hospital and extras coverage bundled together
Cheapest hospital premium
Per month, before rebate
How Defence Health's hospital cover prices compare
Each row shows the whole market's monthly premiums for that tier, with Defence Health's own open policies marked in purple.
VIC, single cover, monthly premiums before rebate. Plus variants are folded into their base tier. Combined policies are excluded.
How Defence Health's extras cover prices compare
Extras-only policies grouped by what they actually cover, using the same VIC single cohort selected above.
- Everyday extras
- General dental and everyday services — no major dental
- Mid extras
- Major dental covered, orthodontics not covered
- Top extras
- Major dental and orthodontics both covered
Compare Defence Health against the market — with an advisor
Same price as joining Defence Health direct. No obligation, no upsell — just a clear side-by-side comparison from a real human.
Defence Health questions, answered honestly
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See all explainersOther funds we compare
Prices shown are PHIO-listed base premiums before the Australian Government Rebate and any age-based discount, sourced from the Government's Private Health Information Statement data (August 2026). Comparify compares a subset of these funds through its advisors.