Defence Health appoints new CEO
The Chairman and Directors of Defence Health Limited are pleased to announce the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer.
David Brajkovic will replace Major General Gerard Fogarty AO (Ret'd) as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
David, most recently CEO Virtual & Home Healthcare for St Vincent’s Health Australia, will replace Major General Gerard Fogarty AO later this year. He has held roles as a CEO of the Health Insurance business Australian Unity, Executive General Manager of Remedy Healthcare and Executive General Manager Dental. David is also a Director of St John Ambulance Victoria and previously the Australian Health Service Alliance.
The Chairman and Directors thank Gerard for his enormous contribution to Defence Health and the broader private health insurance industry and Defence community.
The New Defence Health Member Portal
- Member Portal – Just a reminder that you need to register before using the Member Portal for the first time.
- Tax statements – Click the ‘Tax statements’ tile on the Member Portal homepage. We send this information to the Tax Office for pre-filling of your tax return in July each year.
- Update payment details – Click the ’Edit payment details’ tile to update your bank or credit card payment details. If you set a future date for a change, the updated details will be visible from the day they apply.
- Make an ‘Express Claim’ – For faster payment, some claims can be made through the Member Portal. Online claims through the Member Portal are usually paid within two business days. Snap and send from your mobile will take longer than claiming online. You can claim the following services via Express Claim: general and major dental, optical, remedial massage, acupuncture and myotherapy, group physiotherapy, group exercise physiology, exercise physiology, psychology, speech therapy, occupational therapy, podiatry/chiropody, audiology, dietitian, physiotherapy, chiropractic/osteopathy.
- Accessing your documents - Please note that only policy holders and those with authority can access documents within a membership. If you require full access, please ask the policy holder to call us.
- How to register for the Member Portal - The first time you log in, you will need to take a few moments to register; this will give you access to your policy details and claims. You'll need to do this even if you were registered on the old website.
Our video will guide you through the simple steps:
Your Defence Health tax information for 2024
Your Private Health Insurance Statement (also known as your Tax Statement) contains information that’s used by the Tax Office.
- We send the Tax Statement information to the Tax Office. This will populate your myTax online return by 15 July.
- You can download your Tax Statement from 15 July. Just log in to your Member Portal then check the ‘View documents’ tab.
- Any other questions? Here's some help with your tax.
As part of our responsibilities as your private health insurer we must report to you on a per-person basis. The Tax Office uses your individual share of premiums, Australian Government Rebate and period of hospital cover to calculate your tax. Please select the person-based statement(s) you wish to download.
Visit the Member Portal to download past statements
If you have registered for and activated your Member Portal you can access the statements from the past three financial years. If you haven’t previously done so, you’ll need to register to activate your Member Portal before you can access your tax statements.
Defence Health 2024 premium approved by the Minister
The Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Mark Butler MP, has approved the 2024 health insurance premiums submitted by Defence Health.
The fund had frozen its premiums since 2022 to support its members during the recent period of inflation. Premiums must be adjusted in 2024 to keep pace with the rising cost of health care.
The annual industry average premium is set to rise by 3.03% while the average 2024 Defence Health increase will be 1%. Both the deferred 2023 average premium increase of 3.48% and the 2024 premium change will take effect from 1 April 2024.
Defence Health is a not-for-profit health fund, with any surplus reinvested in the fund for the benefit of all members. The fund aims to keep premiums as low as possible, while paying meaningful benefits towards medical and general treatment.
Defence Health will boost the value of the dental benefits it pays on 1 July 2024. Benefits will increase across many general and major dental items, in addition to an increase to optical benefits.
Defence Health will inform members of their premium changes in March 2024.
Make payments online
We’ve added some new self-service functions to make it easier for you (or the policyholder) to update your policy in the Member Portal:
- Make an immediate online payment to your membership. Click the ‘Make a payment’ tile on the home page.
- Update the account that we pay your claims benefits into. Click the ‘Edit payment details’ tile on the home page, scroll down to select the member and then select ‘View and edit’ and choose 'Claims account' from the list.
- Change your payment method or the frequency of your premium payments. Click the ‘Edit payment details’ tile on the home page, scroll down to select the member and then select ‘View and edit’ and choose ‘Premium payment’ from the list.
- Order a new membership card from the member menu at the top of the portal.
Our contact centre hours
Our priority is to reduce call wait times so you can speak more easily to a real person and get your issues fixed.
Our new extended call centre opening hours are:
- 8.30am to 8.00pm AEST Monday to Thursday
- 8.30am to 6.00pm AEST on Fridays.
Some handy hints
To make your experience navigating our website easier, our team has created some helpful video tutorials which you can access below.