---
title: "OSHC meaning: Overseas Student Health Cover in Australia"
description: "OSHC — Overseas Student Health Cover — is the health insurance every international student in Australia must hold. What it covers, who sells it, and the 12% cap."
lastModified: "2026-08-27"
wordCount: 369
url: https://qualyhq.com/glossary/oshc
---
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# OSHC

> OSHC — Overseas Student Health Cover — is the health insurance every international student in Australia must hold. What it covers, who sells it, and the 12% cap.

**OSHC — Overseas Student Health Cover — is the health insurance an international student must hold for the full length of their Australian student visa. It covers hospital treatment, most out-of-hospital care, limited medicine and ambulance. Five approved insurers sell it — ahm, Allianz Care, Bupa, Medibank and nib — under a government Deed that sets the minimum benefits every policy must include.**

For students, the numbers: single cover in 2026 runs roughly AUD 623–806 a year depending on the insurer, and a family policy for a four-year visa can top AUD 8,000. One distinction saves a lot of confusion — the **coverage** (the minimum benefits) is standardised by the Deed, so "all OSHC is the same" is true at the floor; the **policy** (waiting periods, medicine limits, whether specialists are paid in full, direct billing) differs by insurer, so it is also dangerously false. Both sentences get said to students by people selling the more profitable option.

For agents, OSHC is a business line — and one that just changed shape. Insurers historically paid agents and referral platforms commissions described in the government's own review at around 25–27% of the premium, which made health cover on a single family enrolment out-earn the tuition commission on a language course. Since **1 July 2026**, the Deed caps any third-party payment at **12% of the premium** — and that 12% is the ceiling for the whole chain, sliced between platform, [master agent](/glossary/master-agent.md) and counselor before it reaches you.

One more wrinkle worth telling students: OSHC is a contract between the student and the insurer. If plans collapse — visa refused, early departure — the unused premium comes back from the insurer, pro-rata, on application. It is never bundled into the tuition refund, and students routinely lose it simply because nobody says it's a separate claim.

The full story is in two parts: [the war for OSHC](/blog/the-war-for-oshc.md) (why a mandatory product grew a referral industry) and [the 12% commission cap](/blog/oshc-commission-cap-12-percent.md) (what survives it).

*Reviewed July 2026.*

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