Medicare is Australia's public health system. Living here isn't enough on its own to join it: whether you can enrol depends on your citizenship or visa. Work that out before your first doctor's visit, because it decides what you'll pay and whether you need private health insurance as well.
Who can enrol
You can enrol in Medicare if you live in Australia and you're:
- an Australian citizen
- a New Zealand citizen
- an Australian permanent resident
- applying for permanent residency (other conditions apply)
- a temporary resident covered by a ministerial order
New Zealand citizens can enrol if they can show they'll live here for 6 months or more, have lived here for 6 months or more in the last 12 months, or live here and have applied for permanent residency. You can enrol any time in the 6 months after you first arrive.
Most other temporary visa holders can't enrol. Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with 11 countries: Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. If you're visiting from one of them, you may be eligible for some medical care under Medicare, and what's covered differs by country. Many temporary visas also carry condition 8501, which means you must keep adequate health insurance for your whole stay. Check your visa conditions in VEVO.
How to do it
- Work out which group you're in from the list above.
- Enrol once you're in Australia. You need to be here to enrol, and if you're overseas when Services Australia processes your application, you'll have to reapply. You can enrol online through myGov if you live in Australia, have a current passport or ImmiCard, and have valid visa details if you're not an Australian citizen.
- Enrol your family together. Children under 15 go on your application. Anyone 15 or older adds their own details and identity documents through their own myGov account, using your application number.
- Use the paper form if you can't enrol online. Complete the Medicare enrolment form and mail or email it with your documents to Medicare Enrolment Services.
- Watch for your card. If you're approved, your Medicare card is posted to the address you gave, and you can add a digital copy to the myGov app.
- Find a GP near your new address. Use healthdirect's service finder, and when you book, ask what a standard consultation will cost you.
- Bring your health history. Ask your current doctor for a summary and your prescription history before you leave, so your new GP isn't starting from nothing.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a work visa means Medicare cover. For most temporary visas it doesn't.
- Letting private health insurance lapse on a visa with condition 8501.
- Applying from overseas before the move, then having to reapply.
- Waiting until someone is unwell to look for a GP.
Useful links
- Services Australia: enrolling in Medicare — who can enrol, the documents you need and how to apply.
- Services Australia: Reciprocal Health Care Agreements — what's covered for visitors from each agreement country.
- Home Affairs: adequate health insurance for visa holders — what condition 8501 means.
- healthdirect: find a health service — search for GPs near your new address.