About Plain Cover

Plain Cover explains Australian private health insurance using real numbers, from the bodies that set them, with the date we checked them printed on the page.

Why we built it

Private health insurance is one of the larger bills an Australian household pays, and it is explained almost entirely by people who are paid when you buy. Search for what the Medicare Levy Surcharge costs you and you will get last year's thresholds, a number with no source, and a quote form before the answer.

We think the answer belongs in the first paragraph, the source belongs next to the figure, and the date belongs where you can see it. That is the entire idea.

What we do differently

• Primary sources only. ATO, Department of Health, APRA, the Ombudsman, AIHW and the fund's own PDS. Never another comparison site.
• Dated figures. Every number carries the date it was checked, so you can tell at a glance whether it is current.
• A published method. Every comparison on this site is built on one stated methodology, and you can check our working.
• Disclosure at the top, not the bottom. Any page that can earn us a fee says so above the fold.
• Dated changes. When a figure changes or we get one wrong, we fix it and note the date and the change on the page, instead of quietly editing.

Who runs it

Plain Cover was founded in 2026 and is based in Australia. We are a small independent publisher, not part of a health fund, a broker network or a comparison group.

Guides are written by Lachlan M., and every figure in them is verified by Exolead Media against the source cited next to it, under our editorial policy. Each guide shows the date its figures were last checked.

What we are not

• Not a health fund — we do not issue policies or pay claims.
• Not your adviser — nothing here takes your income, health or circumstances into account, so it is general information, not financial or health advice.
• Not the government — the free official comparison service is at privatehealth.gov.au, and we will point you there whenever it serves you better.
• Not the PDS — the fund's Product Disclosure Statement is the document you are actually buying. Read it.

Contact

Corrections and questions go to hello@plaincover.com.au. If you have found an error, quote the page and the figure so we can check it against the source. Complaints go to Lachlan M. at lachlanm@australianseniorhealth.com — our complaints page explains how.