Yes – if you are experiencing genuine financial hardship, you may be able to suspend your membership for a period of 1 month up to a maximum of 1 year. Get in touch with the Phoenix Health team to discuss your eligibility.
- You must be travelling outside of Australia, and suspending your membership for a minimum of 21 days, up to a maximum of 2 years.
- You must be experiencing genuine financial hardship.
- You must have been a member with Phoenix Health, and your membership must have been paid up to date for at least 2 years.
- If you’ve previously suspended your membership, your policy must have been active and paid up to date for at least 6 months before you’re able to apply for another suspension.
- You’re only able to suspend your membership for financial reasons a maximum of twice.
- Suspensions are not available to Extras only policies.
It’s important to note:
- Temporary Suspension of Membership due to Financial Hardship applications are assessed by the fund on an individual and case by case basis for eligibility.
- If you suspend your membership due to financial hardship, and at the end of the suspension period you cancel your membership, your policy will be cancelled from the date it was suspended.
- Financial Hardship Suspensions are only available twice in the lifetime of a Phoenix Health membership.
Suspending your membership can help you keep the benefits you’ve already built up, rather than cancelling your policy and losing them.
Keep your waiting periods already served
Suspending your membership won’t affect any Hospital or Extras waiting periods you’ve already served. A suspension ‘pauses’ your membership, so if you are within waiting periods when you suspend, the time you’re suspended won’t count towards your waiting periods either.
Protect your Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) status
If you hold Hospital cover, maintaining your continuous cover may be important for Lifetime Health Cover (LHC) purposes. Cancelling your membership could affect your LHC status, while suspension generally won’t.
Any days your membership is suspended won’t count towards your ‘Absent Days’, however they also won’t count towards ‘Paid Hospital Days’.
Understanding Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) implications
As you don’t hold cover for your suspension period, in some cases, the Medicare Levy Surcharge may apply. It’s important that you understand if and how this will affect you. You should contact the ATO on 13 28 61 for more information.
No – you won’t be able to make any claims on your membership while you’re suspended.
Get in touch with the Phoenix Health team on 1800 028 817 or email [email protected].
We’ll re-activate your membership from the suspension end date and if your contributions are paid by direct debit, your payments will continue as usual. We’ll get in touch with you prior to the end of your suspension to confirm this.
Your membership will be cancelled from the date you suspension started.
If you do this, you will have been without cover for the entire suspension period, and waiting periods, LHC implications and MLS surcharges may apply.
