Where it began
YourOSHC sold its first Overseas Student Health Cover policy on 21 November 2023. One policy. I remember that day clearly, not because it was glamorous, but because it felt like a leap of faith. A belief that there was a better, more transparent way to connect international students and visitors with the right health cover, built on technology rather than guesswork.
Since that first policy, we’ve grown to processing over $100 million in total revenue. I share that number not to boast, but because it tells a story about what’s possible when a platform is built around trust and genuine service to the people who use it.
None of this growth belongs to me alone. It belongs to our education and migration agent partners, who trusted a young platform with no track record to speak of. And it belongs to our entire YourOSHC team, many of whom have been with us since the early, uncertain days. To every one of you, thank you, genuinely.
A platform built on no conflict
From day one, we made a decision that has shaped everything since: we would never compromise on how our partners’ client data is used.
We operate under a strict no-conflict policy, so our partners can be confident their clients’ data is never repurposed or misused in any way that could undermine the relationship between an agent and their student. This isn’t a marketing line, it’s an operating principle we’ve held since the start and intend to keep holding.
A technology platform sitting in the middle of this industry has an obligation to be invisible in the right ways: present enough to add genuine value, disciplined enough to never become a point of risk for the partners who put their trust in us.
Why technology matters to this industry’s future
Australian international education export, and the health cover behind it, is a genuinely global business. Students arrive in Australia from every corner of the world, often making one of the biggest decisions of their young lives.
Technology platforms like ours exist to make that decision easier and more transparent, comparing products fairly, processing applications instantly, and giving agents the tools to serve their clients well across the globe.
The right technology helps education agents and students tool to compare and buy Australian OSHC products in real time, this is one of the key drivers for Australian insurers to extend their global footprint without building that infrastructure themselves.
If done properly and in the right partnership settings, that benefits everyone: students get clarity, agents get efficient tools, and insurers get a wider, better-informed customer base.
The new OSHC commission cap: a setback, or a reset?
From 1 July 2026, the Department’s new OSHC Deed caps third party pent payments, commissions, at 12% across all approved OSHC insurers. For agents who’ve built part of their business around commission rates above that, this will understandably feel like lost revenue, at least at first.
For some partners, this is definitely a real adjustment. But I believe that, over time, this reform resets the industry in a way that benefits everyone operating in good faith.
A universal cap removes the temptation to compete on commission size rather than on the quality of service agents actually give students. It creates a level playing field across the board, and a level playing field tends to build a more transparent industry.
It’s also worth noting the Deed doesn’t just impose a number. Clause 16 sets out the principles the Department will use to assess whether any payment counts as a commission at all, why an agent was selected, how the payment is calculated, and how closely it’s tied to the price of the policy.
That’s a genuine attempt to bring consistency to a part of the sector that has lacked it for a long time.
There’s a human side to this reform too, worth highlighting. OSHC exists to make sure cost never becomes a barrier to studying in Australia, and that students have real access to care when they need it.
A capped commission structure is part of a broader push to put more of every premium dollar toward the actual claims experience, and the Deed backs that up with a concrete change.
Under the new Schedule 4, pregnancy-related treatment will carry no waiting period at all on OSHC policies of two years or more, down from twelve months previously.
The information presented here reflects my own reading and interpretation of the Deed. I’d strongly encourage you to refer directly to the Deed for the Provision of Overseas Student Health Cover for first hand source of information.
A word on our insurance partners
I’ve worked with nib OSHC as one of their team members, and now as partner, altogether for about thirteen years now, and in that time I’ve never once doubted their customer-first approach. I’ve seen the same from Bupa, Allianz Care, ahm and Medibank.
All five providers operate under the same Deed, the same obligations to disclose fees and exclusions honestly, and the same duty to treat students fairly. Having sat across the table from these teams for years, I genuinely struggle to think what more we could reasonably ask of them.
Looking ahead
YourOSHC is just the beginning. We have new products coming very soon that we believe will continue to raise the bar for what agents and students should expect from a technology led insurance aggregator platform.
I won’t get ahead of myself with details, but the same principles that took us from one policy to $100 million, transparency, partner trust, and an unwavering no-conflict approach to data, will keep guiding what we build next.
To every partner who has trusted the YourOSHC portal, our service, and our technology, thank you!
It’s because of that trust, built patiently over more than two years, that we’ve grown into the business we are today. We don’t take it lightly, and as our industry adjusts to this new regulatory landscape together, we intend to keep working even more closely with you all, earning it, one policy at a time.
About the author
Shashi Singh is the Founder and CEO of YourOSHC. Before launching the platform, he spent over ten years working closely with nib OSHC and partners across the international education and migration sector, building the relationships and ground insight that continue to shape how YourOSHC operates today.
