Once again, COVID-19 is disrupting life across Australia, and once again the education community has come together to support students and their families.

Please know that we’re mindful of the challenges educators and their families may be experiencing. While we’re all working remotely, we’re still here for you – as your health fund we’ll do everything we can to support you.

Here you’ll find information to help you manage your health, and your membership, during these difficult times.

See updates on our COVID-19 support measures and how to get in touch about COVID-19-related issues:

• physical and mental health support measures
• financial hardship assistance for members
• advice for members with surgery scheduled
• contacting us with COVID-related questions
• what's happening at Teachers Health Centres.

Below you’ll find links to information on general COVID-19 resources for our states and territories:

• state-based COVID-19 links.

On the subject of worthy causes, we’re also getting behind Private Healthcare Australia’s More Affordable Health campaign.

In Australia we pay at least 30% more for medical devices compared to other countries. And this is one of the biggest drivers behind private health insurance premium increases.

The campaign aims to make health insurance more affordable by changing the way medical devices are priced in Australia.

You can show your support at More Affordable Health and via Facebook.

At the start of the pandemic, we introduced the following measures – they’ve now been extended to 31 December 2021:

• Telehealth – We’ve always paid benefits towards telepsychology under Extras cover. We’ve since extended this to a wider range of services, including physio, chiro and speech therapy.
  
  
• Mental Wellness Program – This phone-based program is always available to eligible members^ with Hospital cover via Teachers Healthcare Services.
  
  More on mental health support during COVID-19
  
  
• Cover for COVID-19 – Members on all levels of Hospital cover are covered for COVID-19 admissions, including cover for any adverse reaction or side-effect to a COVID-19 vaccine which requires admission to hospital. This is especially relevant for members on our Basic Plus products (who wouldn’t have had full cover for COVID-19 admissions otherwise).
  
  
• New Family Program – our New Family Program remains open to more members^ with Hospital cover. This is to help families who may struggle to access standard ante and postnatal services during COVID-19.
  
  

^{^}This program is brought to members through Teachers Healthcare Services, an initiative of Teachers Health to support members’ health and wellbeing through quality, evidence-based health management programs and services. To be eligible for this program you must be a member of UniHealth and have Hospital cover with all relevant waiting periods served. Additional eligibility criteria may apply. Eligible members are connected with a dedicated Teachers Healthcare Services care coordinator who supports them on their personal journey. 

Updated 20/08/21

The ACT and NSW state governments have temporarily postponed non-urgent elective surgeries in a number of areas. They've done this to help healthcare services respond to the demands of COVID-19 in the most effective way.

NSW

Private hospital admissions

From Monday 23 August, many private hospitals across Greater Sydney, as well as some regional locations, are temporarily postponing non-urgent elective surgery.

Private hospital staff will help support the large-scale vaccination effort currently underway and support workforce demands in the NSW public health system.

Public hospital admissions

At the start of August, NSW Health temporarily postponed non-urgent elective surgeries at public hospitals in Greater Sydney (excluding the Illawarra Shoalhaven and Central Coast Local Health Districts).

This has since been extended to other areas across the state, including regional areas.

Advice for patients whose surgery may be affected

NSW Health says that patients who are impacted by the changes will be contacted.

Those affected should reach out to their referring doctor if their condition deteriorates, so they can be reviewed and re-prioritised to a more urgent category if needed.

For the latest on elective surgeries in NSW, go to NSW Health.

ACT & Southern NSW local health districts

Health facilities in the ACT and Southern NSW health districts are currently providing urgent or essential services only. Impacted patients will be contacted by their care provider.

For updates, go to ACT Health.

At-a-glance

The above changes won’t affect:

• urgent elective surgeries in public hospitals.
• urgent elective surgeries in private hospitals
• emergency surgeries in public hospitals.
• urgent non-elective treatment (such as chemotherapy, dialysis, maternity).

They will affect:

• non-urgent elective surgeries in public and private hospitals (public and private patients).

Have a question for us?

For more information on Hospital cover during COVID-19, check out these FAQs.

Need to talk to us urgently about a hospital admission? We’ve created a fast-track process for members with COVID-19-related questions – please get in touch here.​

We’re here to help if you’re experiencing financial stress due to the lockdowns. Here are two ways we’ve been supporting members:

• Financial hardship suspension – If you’re having financial difficulties, you can apply to suspend your membership.
  
  
• Overseas travel suspension – We’ve relaxed the rules on suspension to better support members who suspended their cover and are stuck overseas. This measure is in place until the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.

Here are links to government state and territory COVID-19 information:

• ACT
• NSW
• NT
• Qld
• SA
• Tas
• Vic
• WA