Medicare is Australia’s national public health scheme which covers medical services, public hospitals, and medicines.
Medicare is available to Australian and New Zealand citizens, permanent residents in Australia, and people from counties with reciprocal agreements.
Medicare covers all the costs of public hospital services. It also covers some or all the costs of other health services. These can include services provided by GPs and medical specialists. They can also include physiotherapy, community nurses and basic dental services for children. However, there are some medical services that Medicare does not cover, such as ambulance transport, most dental services and contact lenses or glasses.
The other important part of Medicare is the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The PBS makes some prescription medicines cheaper.
To read more about how Medicare works please click here.
