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Medicare - Medical Treatment in Australia

Medicare is the Australian reciprocal health care agreement which allows UK citizens access to limited subsidised health services for immediately necessary treatment while visiting Australia.

Period of Cover

If you are a resident of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Norway or the Netherlands you are covered for the duration of your approved visit to Australia.

Access to Cover

Reciprocal health care agreements cover treatment that is immediately necessary. Immediately necessary treatment means any ill-health or injury which occurs while you are in Australia and requires treatment before you return home. There may be some instances where, before you can gain access to Medicare benefits in Australia, you will need to show written proof from the treating doctor that a particular treatment was immediately necessary.

Students
If you are visiting Australia on a student visa you are not covered by Medicare and should take out your own health insurance cover.

Further Information

For more information about Medicare and receiving medical treatment whilst in Australia visit the Medicare website.

Your Entitlements

As a resident of one of these countries you are entitled to the following for any ill-health or injury requiring immediate treatment while in Australia:

free treatment as a public in-patient or outpatient in a public hospital
subsidised medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
Medicare benefits for out-of-hospital medical treatment provided by doctors through private surgeries and community health centres.

Enrolling in Medicare

If you will be receiving treatment you can enroll at Medicare offices throughout Australia. If you receive treatment before you enroll, Medicare benefits will be back paid for eligible visitors.

To enroll in Medicare you will need:

your passport with a valid visa
to provide, in some cases, identification showing you are enrolled in your country’s national health scheme (for example, a national health service card or similar certificate).

If your application to enroll in Medicare is approved, you will receive an Australian reciprocal health care card in the mail.