Assigning levels of authority to your policy

Learn how to set up different levels of authority for your health insurance policy, ensuring that the right people can manage your cover when needed.

What is authority?

Each health cover has a nominated policyholder.

The policyholder is legally responsible for the policy, and anything we send will be addressed to them.  

As a policyholder, you have the option to authorise someone to act on your behalf. You can decide how much of your information they can access and what actions they can take related to your health cover.

Understanding the different types of authority

Full authority

Each health cover has a nominated policyholder with full authority and legal responsibility for the policy.

As the main policyholder, you can manage all aspects of your health cover. See the full list of what you can do.

Authority to operate

Authority to operate allows a third party, usually a spouse or partner, to perform specific actions for the policyholder, like making payments or ordering statements.

However, it doesn’t cover all aspects of policy management. For broader responsibilities, a Power of Attorney may be needed. 

Authority to enquire

Granting someone authority to enquire allows them discuss specific information about the policy and make changes related to their information.

However, they cannot perform transactions or make other changes to the policy.

No authority

No authority means the third party cannot manage or make changes to the policy.

Only the policyholder or authorised individuals can handle policy matters.

How to update authority for other members on your cover

Currently, you cannot update authorities through your member account or the nib App, but we are working on adding this feature.

Frequently asked questions