Confused about Medicare!!!

[Riponian]

I am trying to get my head round medicare and not getting anywhere. It is probably not the best time to be doing it with us leaving in 4 days but it is the one thing that I have not looked into yet!

 

I think I know how to apply for it and we are elligable on our visa but I don't know how much we will have to pay!!!

 

Any advice would be a great help!

 

[Guest chisler]

When we lived there in the early 90s,pretty sure we didnt have to pay anything for healthcare as I recall and it was certainly more efficient than the third world service you get in the UK.

[Guest Rob&SamThomas]

Hiya

We only arrived in June and applied for our Medicare cards in the City office in person, the lady who dealt with us was really helpful and I'm sure if you have any questions they will be able to answer them. I know that we have bought private healthcover to cover dental, physio etc. but I think the normal day to day stuff is covered but thankfully have not needed to use it.

Hope all goes well with the journey.

Sam

[ozzieclare2be]

Ive been here 15months and still find the system confusing. Normally if i see the gp i pay about $16 i think the rest is bulk billed, sometimes i dont have to pay anything (if its a follow up appointment).

[Diane]

We've been here five years and I'm still confused!!

 

Normal doctors appointments: the surgery we go to bulk bills so I just sign a slip and pay nothing. If we can't get an appointment there, we can go to any other surgery - again if they bulk bill I pay nothing, if they don't I pay then take the bill to a Medicare office and get the money back! OH broke his wrist a while back and went to emergency at the local hospital - again paid nothing.

 

For specialists, you can go on a Medicare Waiting List to see someone (sort of like NHS waiting list I think) or I opted to see someone privately, saw them much quicker, paid the bill, then claimed pretty much all of it (might have been 80%) back from Medicare!

 

Dentists - kids are entitled to subsidised dentistry through the School Dentist Service - ours is based at the local primary school but any school age child is eligible - costs about $40 a visit but they only see them about every 18-24 months. Teenagers also get a voucher sent through by the government (if you're on a certain family allowance I think) entitling them to treatment to the value of about $150 so I use that for an interim visit between the school dentists ones.

 

As a family, we are entitled to full Medicare cover (a green card) - think this is the case for anyone on a PR visa, but different on some of the non-PR ones, although as a UK citizen you are still entitled to the reciprocal agreement between UK and Oz (I think this means you get something like 75% of any costs refunded - not including costs of prescriptions). We have ambulance cover through the post office (about $100 a year per family) but no private cover. Some things, such as physiotherapy, are not covered so we pay for them as and when we need them.

 

There is also something to do with tax - if your medical bills and dentistry bills come to over a certain amount in the tax year, you can claim something like 25% back against your tax. This includes things like the private laser eye surgery I had. Apparently! Not done that yet, but worth keeping all bills anyway!!

[Guest caoimhe]

First off you pay 1.5% of your wages to cover medicare. If you go to a GP that bulk bills then the surgery bills medicare for the cost of the appointment, but if the GP does not bulk bill then you pay them and claim the money back from medicare. Some GP charge a gap this means that medicare only pay so must but the GP charges more so you pay the difference.

You pay for medication which can cost about $30 for a prescription.

Keep ALL your receipts for prescription, dentists or anything to do with medical expenses (even cough medicines etc that you buy in a pharmachist----not a supermerket it must be a pharmachist to qualify) because at the end of the tax year when you are doing your return if you have spent over $1500 on qualifying medical expenses for the whole family you can claim a tax offset of 20% of the amount over the $1500.

Ambulances are not part of medicare so you will need ambulance cover just in case. We have extras insurance which includes the ambulance cover, have a look at this thread to expalin extra cover

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12787

2 of my kids have had hospital appointments and did have to wait a couple of months for them but no more than what they waited in the UK. We have also had to go to the hospital for stitches at no cost either. I had to see a eye specialist for which I paid $45 and medicare paid the rest.

Hope this explains some of it:skeptical:

[Riponian]

Thanks for all your replies sounds like it is best to go to the office in town and sort all this out. With having young kids want to make sure we get everything right when it comes to medical stuff. Can't believe we fly soon... arrrgghh but I am getting excited

 

Thanks

Michelle

[andy and lindsey]

There are Medicare offices all over Adelaide so if you aren't staying in town then you will find one near to where you are staying - We are in the south and there are medicare offices in Noarlunga and Westfield Marion (shopping centre).

 

Lindsey