Hospital cover in the Northern Territory: the cheapest way out of the surcharge
Territory premiums are a fraction of those in the southern states, so the sum between surcharge and cover gives a very clear answer here.
The cheapest exempt cover costs less than the surcharge by
$804
Surcharge $1,200 against $396 of cover: ahm health insurance, ambulance hospital (basic) (Basic, $750 excess), $39.30 a month before rebate.
| Income tested: $120,000 | Tier 1, 1.00 % |
| Surcharge without cover, you | $1,200 |
| Cheapest exempt policy, full premium | $472 |
| Rebate (16.079 %) | -$76 |
| Net cost of the policy | $396 |
| Income from which cover is cheaper | $105,500 |
Premiums: PrivateHealth.gov.au file of 2026-10-01, 448 open policies that avoid the surcharge for this cover type in Northern Territory. Premiums change on 1 April 2027.
Prepared by Radif Partners · How the figures are built · thresholds read on ato.gov.au, premiums from privatehealth.gov.au data · not tax advice
In the Northern Territory the cheapest open hospital policy that avoids the Medicare levy surcharge costs $39.30 a month for a single person before the rebate, $472 a year, in the PrivateHealth.gov.au file of 1 October 2026. That is about 2.6 times less than the cheapest equivalent in New South Wales. The surcharge, on the other hand, is a federal tax and costs the same in Darwin as in Sydney: $1,100 on an income of $110,000, $1,750 on $140,000. After the rebate the cheapest Territory policy costs $396 a year at the first income and $434 at the second. Even the cheapest Gold policy, at $129.90 a month, beats the surcharge from $123,500. The calculator above starts on the Territory; change the income, the family or the age.
Every hospital tier beats the surcharge somewhere
In most states the question is whether a Basic policy is cheaper than the surcharge. In the Territory the question shifts: from which income is a better policy also cheaper than the tax? The table gives, for each hospital tier, the cheapest open policy in the October 2026 file and the lowest single income at which its net cost, after the rebate, falls under the surcharge.
| Hospital tier | Cheapest per month | Insurer | Cheaper than the surcharge from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39.30 | ahm health insurance | $105,500 |
| Basic Plus | $51.17 | HCF | $105,500 |
| Bronze | $63.10 | ahm health insurance | $105,500 |
| Bronze Plus | $59.00 | see-u by HBF | $105,500 |
| Silver | $94.30 | GMHBA Limited | $105,500 |
| Silver Plus | $69.45 | HCF | $105,500 |
| Gold | $129.90 | Medibank Private Limited | $123,500 |
The result is unusual. A single Territorian on $130,000 who wants more than an accident policy can buy a Silver Plus policy for $69.45 a month, and it still costs less after the rebate than the $1,625 surcharge. Even the median exempt policy at $108.15 wins from $109,000. In New South Wales the median exempt single policy costs $186.10 a month, and at that price it only beats the surcharge from $164,500. In relative terms the ladder is steeper here: the cheapest Gold policy costs 3.3 times the cheapest Basic one, against 2.4 times in NSW, but the dollars at stake are small.
Your income in the Territory
The cheapest exempt cover costs less than the surcharge by
$1,441
| Income tested: $150,000 | Tier 2, 1.25 % |
| Surcharge without cover, you | $1,875 |
| Cheapest exempt policy, full premium | $472 |
| Rebate (8.038 %) | -$38 |
Families and couples
For a couple, the cheapest exempt policy is $78.60 a month, and for a family $78.60, twice the single price as is usual. A single parent pays $64.00. A Territory couple on a combined $240,000, split $150,000 and $90,000, would pay $2,400 of surcharge between them without cover; the cheapest couple policy costs $792 after the rebate. The couples page explains how the combined test and the separate bills work.
Read the policy before you buy it
The cheapest Territory policy, from ahm health insurance, is a Basic policy with a $750 excess. Basic is the lowest of the four hospital tiers, and the cheapest Basic policies tend to cover little beyond what the tier requires. That is enough to avoid the surcharge, because the tax rule looks at the excess and not the tier, but it may not be enough if you want to be treated as a private patient for planned surgery. Each policy's Private Health Information Statement lists what it covers. Naming the cheapest policy in the public file is a figure for the comparison, not a recommendation.
Because premiums are so low, the Lifetime Health Cover loading costs less in dollars here too. A 30 % loading on the cheapest single policy adds $141 a year, against $369 in NSW. The rule itself is national: see Lifetime Health Cover loading.
Where the numbers come from
The prices are those of the PrivateHealth.gov.au product file of 1 October 2026 (data.gov.au): 448 open policies that avoid the surcharge for a single person in the Territory, from 21 insurers. The rebate and thresholds come from the ATO. Premiums change on 1 April each year. The method page lists the filters.