Renewing OSHC or buying a new policy each year: what actually changes
Renew, stay or switch — what each option does to your waiting periods, your continuous cover and your money under the current OSHC Deed.
Every year a student renewing their cover asks the same question: is it worth the effort to shop again, or should I just roll the policy over? The answer depends on three things the Deed treats quite specifically — waiting periods, continuous cover, and refunds — and none of them is “the price”.
This article compares renewing with the same insurer, staying put, and switching, on the effects the Deed actually prescribes.
The option people forget: continuous cover
The organising principle is not price at all. It is continuous cover, because the Deed makes almost every student-friendly provision conditional on it.
Schedule 4 closes with a single sentence that governs this whole question:
“For clarity, a waiting period served under a previous OSHC Product will be off set against, or credited towards, the waiting period of a new OSHC Product, provided there is continuous cover.”
And clause 7.1 makes continuous OSHC for the duration of the Student Visa “an ongoing condition for the Student Visa to remain valid”.
Read those together and the picture is clear: the thing to protect is continuity, and switching is fine as long as you do not leave a gap doing it. Everything else is secondary.
Option one: renew with the same insurer
The lowest-friction option, and usually the right one if nothing has gone wrong.
What it means in practice: no gap in your cover history, and no new waiting period to serve. If you have already served a psychiatric hospital waiting period or a pre-existing condition waiting period on this policy, staying means you do not go back to the start of it.
What to check before renewing anyway:
- The policy end date still matches your enrolment end date. Course loads change; cover dates need to follow.
- Your family composition is still accurate. The category on your policy has to keep matching the family on your visa.
- The premium for the coming period is quoted before you commit — the Deed requires insurers to obtain Commonwealth approval before changing OSHC premiums, but the price you are quoted should still be the price for your dates.
Option two: switch to a different insurer
Legitimate, and often worth it — but the timing has to be right and you have to handle the refund from the old insurer.
The sequencing is the whole trick. Start the new policy on the day the old one ends, not after. There is no regulatory minimum gap you must observe; what matters is that there is no uncovered day. Buying the new policy on the day the old expires keeps you inside the “continuous cover” that Schedule 4 requires for waiting period credits.
On the refund. Schedule 5 of the Deed sets out the refund events, all net of a reasonable processing fee. Two are directly relevant:
- Overlap. Where you can provide proof of OSHC taken out and paid for with another insurer which overlaps with the same period covered by the current insurer, the “Paid premium amount to be refunded on a pro rata basis for the overlapped period … less a reasonable processing fee (if any)”.
- Visa refusal and extensions. If you paid on the basis that Home Affairs would grant a visa and refused entry, the paid premium is refunded in full, less a reasonable processing fee. If you paid for an extended stay and the extension was refused, the extension premium is refunded in full on the same basis.
Other Schedule 5 events cover periods when you were absent from Australia: a pro rata refund for the period of absence if you can prove you were not residing in Australia for a continuous period of 3 months or more, and a pro rata refund for the remainder of the Student visa if you are granted permanent residence or another Australian visa.
On waiting periods when you switch. The credit rule protects you only where cover has been continuous. If you move insurer with a gap, you can lose both the continuity and the credit built on it. This is the one place where a small saving is not worth it.
Our guide to switching OSHC insurers works through the switch step by step, including the refund claim.
Option three: buy a brand-new policy each year
This is the most common position by default, and it is the one most worth examining.
If you buy a genuinely new policy from a different insurer every year and maintain continuous cover throughout, the offset rule still applies and waiting periods you have already served are credited forward. So switching annually is not inherently worse on waiting periods.
What it does cost you is:
- Friction. Every switch is a claim, a refund request and a re-paper of the documentation you need for your next visa application.
- Refund chasing. Unless the switch is seamless, you are usually owed a pro rata refund under Schedule 5 and have to ask for it.
- Attention on the dates. Each switch is another chance to misalign the start date with your enrolment.
There is one provision that rewards loyalty, and it is modest: clause 8.2 of the Deed allows an insurer to offer a maximum percentage discount of 12 per cent on a first purchase from that insurer, and clause 8.3 bars insurers from applying an excess to OSHC products at all.
What actually changes year to year
Stripping away the commercial layer, these are the things that genuinely differ between renewing and rebuying:
| Factor | Renew with same insurer | Switch insurer, no gap |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting periods already served | Carried over; nothing to re-serve | Credited under the Schedule 4 offset rule |
| Continuous cover for visa purposes | Maintained | Maintained if start and end dates align |
| Refund position | Not applicable | Pro rata on any overlap, per Schedule 5 |
| Documentation to re-supply | Minimal | Full policy schedule and disclosure documents again |
| First-purchase discount | Not applicable | Up to 12 per cent at most, per clause 8.2 |
Key takeaways
- Continuous cover is the value to protect. Everything else follows from it.
- Renewing is lowest friction and carries no new waiting periods.
- Switching is fine — align the new policy to start the day the old one ends.
- Waiting periods are credited on continuous cover, not reset, provided you do not leave a gap.
- Overlaps and absences are refundable under Schedule 5, pro rata, less a reasonable processing fee.
- Switching annually is a choice, not a necessity — it costs you time and refund chasing, not waiting periods.
If you are at renewal and want to see what the current market looks like before you decide, compare the insurers currently selling OSHC on the comparison page or price a renewal for your dates on the quote page.
Sources
- OSHC Deed commencing 1 July 2025 (PDF) — clause 7.1 (continuous cover as an ongoing visa condition), clause 8.2 and 8.3 (first-purchase discount and the excess prohibition), Schedule 4 (offset rule) and Schedule 5 (premium refunds).
- Private Health Insurance Ombudsman — Overseas Student Health Cover
- Department of Health — OSHC fact sheet
- Department of Home Affairs — Adequate health insurance for visa holders
Information is current as at 1 October 2026. This is general information, not personal advice, and it does not consider your personal circumstances. CompareOSHC is not an insurer or underwriter. We may receive a commission from insurers; commissions do not influence our comparisons.