Download the Overseas Student Health Cover Update 2025 as a pdf
International students and their family members are excluded from Medicare. Instead, they must buy Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) from Private Health Insurers while they are living in Australia.
The Government sets out the rules for Overseas Student Health Cover in the OSHC Deed.
In 2011, the Deed was changed to allow a 12-month waiting period for pregnancy-related care. As a result, many international students who became pregnant in their first year in Australia faced barriers to healthcare.
Using Australian healthcare is already more difficult for international students, so this change was harmful and unfairly impacted women more than men.
MCWH has asked the government to change this unfair rule for more than 10 years, and in July 2025 the Government took action. The new changes in the Deed include:
- adding miscarriage and termination of pregnancy to the definition of pregnancy-related conditions
- making pregnancy-related care for students with OSHC policies of two years or more accessible as soon as they buy insurance
- limiting how much money insurance companies can pay to people who sell their insurance products to students (like universities or migration agents)
- making insurers publish clear information about what their insurance offers on privatehealth.gov.au
MCWH welcomes these changes as a positive step forward for international students’ access to sexual and reproductive healthcare. We also celebrate it as a win for our advocacy.
Despite these changes, international students still face barriers to healthcare. Read our OSHC Policy Response to learn more.