Visiting the doctors..

[HALT]

Hi All

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion on this thread.

Almost all British "visitors" to Australia are automatically covered by the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement between Australia and the UK, but the RHCA is confined to *necessary* medical care only:

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/...tors/index.jsp

With a short stay tourist visa, it is quite unlikely that anythng more would really be of any great benefit, I reckon. If a doctor says something is necessary then it is necessary. Medicare would not try to argue with a doctor.

However ambulance cover is essential because emergency ambulances are not free in Australia and they are not cheap either. If the situation is life-threatening, the ambulance fee is likely to exceed $500 AUD. For residents, household insurance policies generally provide ambulance cover. Various organisations provide it separately including the Red Cross, I believe, including for tourists.

The other thing to bear in mind with a short visit is that the plane is going to stop somewhere en route either in the Middle East or the Far East, and none of the countries involved have RHCAs with the UK. Admittedly I've never bothered to insure that risk either myself, but I am not prepared to say that one need not do so. I think it is a matter of personal choice.

British 457 visa holders have the same access to Medicare as a tourist, and the business of agencies telling Brits that they are not entitled to Medicare and therefore must have private cover is either ignorance and incompetence or it is a deliberate rip-off. Please see Page 8 of Booklet 11, which is here:

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/books11.htm

It is quite clear from Page 8 that the employer is responnsible for any medical costs that the RHCA does not cover. Misleading a 457 visa holder about this is something that one should consider reporting to DIAC in my view.

HALT, if you are British why are you not covered by the RHCA, please? There are hardly any exclusions from it.

Best wishes

Gill

Best wishes

Gill

Hi Gill

We are on a 442 Visa, husband company (The government) pay for private medical insurance but the excess is $250. Yes we are covered by RCHA however as i understand this it is emergency treatment and not GPs etc. Don't want to clog up A&E departments with coughs and colds etc. Had to deal with a lot of people abusing the system in the UK would hate to be the one to do it out here. Let me know if i am wrong as my son has mild learning disabilities so we a using all our savings to get him seen by the correct paeditricians and to get educational assessments done this side of never.

[ShaunWilson]

GP's fees are covered by medicare, only thing you are liable for is the $20.00 gap that medicare does not cover. Having a pregnant wife on arrival, we found this out immediately.