Medicare and health care in Australia

You are generally eligible for Medicare if you:

• are an Australian or New Zealand citizen living in Australia;
• are an Australian permanent resident;
• have applied for a permanent visa (other than a parent visa) and either hold a visa that lets you work or have a parent, spouse or child who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen living in Australia. This includes combined partner visa applications (820/801 or 309/100). Your enrolment can start from the date you applied, or the date you arrived if you applied from overseas;
• are covered by a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (see below); or
• are a temporary resident covered by a Ministerial Order.

New Zealand citizens must show that they live in Australia: proof you will live here for 6 months or more, that you have lived here for 6 months in the last 12, or that you live here and have applied for permanent residence. Until you can enrol, the reciprocal agreement covers essential treatment in a public hospital.

If you already had Medicare and lived overseas for more than 12 months, your enrolment lapses and you need to enrol again when you return.

Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. If you are visiting from one of these countries you may be eligible for medically necessary care under Medicare while you are here. The conditions differ by country: for example, Services Australia says visitors from Italy may be covered for 6 months. Read the page for your country before relying on it.

These agreements are for visitors. If you are moving to Australia on a temporary work visa, check your visa's health insurance condition: the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa, for example, requires you to keep adequate health insurance for your whole stay.

Medicare benefits are based on fees set by the government in the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). Doctors can charge more than the schedule fee. For services on the MBS, Medicare pays:

• the full schedule fee for GP services outside hospital;
• 85% of the schedule fee for specialists outside hospital;
• 75% of the schedule fee for in-hospital services; if you have private hospital cover for the service, your insurer may pay the remaining 25%.

If a doctor bulk bills, they accept the Medicare benefit as full payment and you pay nothing. If they do not, you pay upfront and claim the benefit back; the difference is your gap or out-of-pocket cost. Not all doctors bulk bill, and some only bulk bill concession card holders, so ask about costs when you book. If you have high costs in a calendar year, the Medicare Safety Net can increase your benefits.

If you hold a temporary visa and are not covered, you are personally liable for the full cost of treatment, which can be very expensive. The government's privatehealth.gov.au recommends Overseas Visitors Health Cover (OVHC), and some visas make health insurance a condition: most student visa holders need Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC), and working visa applicants often need adequate cover too.

If you are not entitled to Medicare, you may also be able to claim an exemption from the Medicare levy in your tax return with a Medicare Entitlement Statement. See Taxes in Australia.

Ambulance transport is not free in NSW. NSW Ambulance charges every patient it transports; NSW residents pay a subsidised call-out fee ($464 plus $4.18 per kilometre from 1 July 2025, as published in July 2026), and people who are not NSW residents pay more. Check whether your health insurance includes ambulance cover.

Australians on higher incomes who do not have private patient hospital cover may have to pay the Medicare levy surcharge of 1% to 1.5% in addition to the Medicare levy. In 2026–27 it starts above $105,000 income for singles and $210,000 for families. See Taxes in Australia.