Health Care Card (HCC) only Carer Allowance (CA) (child) 009-03010020

All carers must assess their eligibility for CA at the payment level. It is no longer possible to code a CA HCC only claim.

If a care receiver does not qualify their carer for CA at the payment level, consideration is given to HCC only CA, where no payments are made, but recognition is given to the high cost of medications, and a HCC is issued for that purpose.

See Coding a paper claim for CA where the care receiver is under 16 to assess entitlement for HCC only CA.

HCC only CA is issued for a child who does not qualify for CA but who needs and receives, because of their disability, substantially more care and attention on a daily basis than a non-disabled child of the same age. This is in acknowledgment of the significant costs that are often associated with the care of these children.

If a carer who is single stops providing daily care and attention to the care receiver, cancel the HCC as qualification is lost. For instance, if the carer is imprisoned or travels overseas while the care receiver (child) remains in Australia.

If a carer who is partnered stops providing daily care and attention to the care receiver, and:

• their partner provides:
• daily care and attention to the care receiver, the child’s qualification to HCC remains
• no daily care and attention to the care receiver, cancel the HCC as qualification is lost
• a third party (someone other than the carer or their partner) provides daily care and attention, cancel the HCC as qualification is lost. The third party can test their eligibility by claiming CA

Respite care and temporary cessation of care provisions do not apply to CA HCC only.

HCC can be provided to 16-25 year olds who are full time students and who have a disability or medical condition that previously qualified their carer for CA (child) on the day before the care receiver turned 16.

See Ex-Carer Allowance (child) Health Care Card (EHC) if the child care receiver is approaching 16 years of age.

Social security law does not require that a concession card be signed. A signature is only one method of determining that the person using the concession card is the person entitled to use it. If the child is:

• old enough to write their name on the card and is able to identically reproduce this signature upon request, it may be appropriate for the child to sign the card
• unable to sign the card, a legal guardian can sign on the child's behalf. The guardian should indicate in the signature block they are signing on another person's behalf

Note: Services Australia only provides the concession cards, not the concessions. It is ultimately the concession provider who determines whether to accept a concession card that is not signed by the person named on it.