Healthcare in Australia

The Australian Government run a system called Medicare. It is similar to our NHS but only covers certain areas in medical services. For services not covered by Medicare, you can either get your own private healthcare policy or see if your employer offers healthcare as part of a package.

The Medicare system ensures that all Australian citizens or permanent residents have access to free or low cost health services.. Generally treatment is free in a public hospital and services provided by Doctors and specialist could be free or heavily subsidised. The system itself is paid for through your taxes and a Medicare levy. The levy is generally 1.5% of your taxable income.

Medicare will cover out-of-hospital services, such as eye tests, some dental surgical treatment, x-rays and pathology tests. If you are admitted as a public patient into a hospital, your treatment and aftercare will be free. If you are admitted as a private patient then Medicare will usually cover 75% of the scheduled fee, the remainder can be covered by your private policy.

It’s always a good idea to check what is and isn’t covered by a Medicare policy and compare it to the coverage of a private policy. You will usually be able to cover all areas of the services with a combination of both policies.

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