What is Medicare?
Operating since February 1, 1984, Medicare is Australia’s national health care system. When enrolling in Medicare, enrollees will be provided with free, OR subsidized, health care services. The Medicare system is for Australian citizens and permanent residents.
Refugees or humanitarian immigrants to Australia may also be eligible for Medicare. Migrants temporarily residing in Australia under other categories must have private health insurance.
What types of costs does Medicare cover?
1. Medicare covers some or all of the following services:
- See your general practitioner or specialist
- Examination and imaging, such as X-rays
- Most surgeries and medical procedures are performed by doctors
- Eye check.
More specifically, with Medicare, you receive free treatment and accommodation if you are a public patient at a public hospital and are treated by a doctor appointed by the hospital.
See your general practitioner or specialist
Medicare supports costs when patients go to see health professionals (such as doctors, specialists, ophthalmologists, and other auxiliary medical specialists…).
When you sign up for Medicare, Medicare may help pay for some or all of the costs of doctor visits. If your doctor chooses to bulk bill, Medicare will cover the costs and you won’t have to pay anything. If your doctor does not bulk bill, you will need to pay:
- Total cost. OR,
- The difference between what the doctor charges and what Medicare supports.
If you pay in full, you can contact Medicare to get your money back. Your doctor can also submit a request on your behalf. Therefore, when making an appointment, you should ask the doctor in advance about billing. When you go to another visit, you also need to bring your Medicare card to receive services.
Medicine costs
The Australian government supports the cost of some drugs through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) – the pharmaceutical benefits program under the Medicare system. The PBS helps keep medicines affordable by limiting the amount patients pay for medicines.
If the patient needs to buy a lot of medicine, the patient can register for the PBS Safety Net program – Limiting the maximum cost of medicine to be paid, to receive additional cost support.
Other services
Depending on your needs, Medicare also has a variety of other programs to support your health care such as:
- Medicare services for Indigenous Australians
- Medicare services for pregnancy and childbirth
- Children’s health care
- Health care for the elderly
- Medicare services for rural and remote Australians
- Other Medicare assistance.
2. Medicare does not support costs such as:
- Ambulance service
- Most dental care services
- Making glasses, contact lenses, and hearing aids
- Cosmetic Surgery.
Many private health insurance companies now cover services that Medicare does not cover, such as dental care, most eye care services, and emergency transportation in most states. and territory. To enjoy the cost support package for these services, you can purchase other types of insurance.
Medicare enrollment procedure
Registered objects
You can sign up for Medicare if you live in Australia and fall into any of the following categories:
- Australian citizen
- New Zealand citizen
- Australian permanent resident
- In the process of applying for permanent residency (limited to specific cases)
- Immigrants residing temporarily by order of the Ministry.
When applying for Medicare, depending on your state of residence, you will need to provide supporting documents.
How to register
People over 15 years old can go directly to the Medicare Service Center to register, or submit a Medicare registration form and supporting documents to Medicare. You can send it to the address on the form or email it to Medicare Enrollment Services.
Medicare Contact details
- Medicare website https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/medicare
- Information for migrants, refugees, and visitors https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/moving-to-australia
- Information in languages other than English https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/information-your-language
- Phone 132 011
If you meet all the requirements, you will be issued a temporary Medicare card number. About 3 weeks later, you will receive your Medicare card in the mail.
How to apply for Medicare in Australia for a newborn
When your baby is born, you can use form MS004 to register your baby. The doctor or midwife must sign the form on the last page.
Your newborn baby needs to be enrolled in Medicare as soon as possible. A newborn is a child who is 52 weeks old or has not yet reached his first birthday. It is necessary to use the declaration as proof of the child’s birth to register for Medicare. If parents accidentally lose the form, they can use their child’s birth certificate to register.
How to use your Medicare card
You need to have a valid Medicare card to claim Medicare reimbursement for government-billed doctor visits, treatment as a public patient in a public hospital, or medication purchases under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Each family can be issued a maximum of two cards. If you are 15 years of age or older, you may be issued your own Medicare card. If you lose your Medicare card, you can easily apply for a new card using your online Medicare account or through the Express Plus Medicare mobile app.
Online Medicare account
You can sign up for a Medicare account online at myGov. This is a safe and convenient way for you to do business with Medicare anytime, anywhere.
Express Plus Medicare mobile app
You can also access Medicare through the Express Plus Medicare mobile app. Once you have an online Medicare account, you can download the app to your phone from the App Store or Google Play.
Register a bank account
To receive reimbursement, you will need to register your bank account information so that Medicare can pay your reimbursement directly to your chosen bank account.
You can register your bank account details by:
- Your online Medicare account at myGov. OR,
- Express Plus Medicare mobile app.
You will need to have your Medicare card and bank account details, account number, and account name ready when you register.
Please reimburse
With a Medicare card, you can claim for anyone listed on your Medicare card. You can also claim reimbursement for the person listed on the other Medicare card if you paid for the service.
You can claim:
- At your doctor’s office if they have the means to apply for reimbursement electronically
- Using your online Medicare account at myGov
- Express Plus Medicare mobile app.
Whether you apply for reimbursement at your doctor’s office, online, or in person, your Medicare reimbursement will be paid electronically to your bank account. Refunds are usually available the next business day.
To find out more information about Medicare, you can visit https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/information-your-language to read, listen, or watch videos in Vietnamese, OR call Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 131 450 to speak to Medicare in Vietnamese about Medicare benefits and services.
