Medicare - Your Health 011-40000000

This document explains details about various Medicare services and administrative processes.

Government intent

Services Australia administers Medicare on behalf of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is responsible for developing Medicare policy.

Services Australia pays Medicare benefits in accordance with the legislation governing Medicare and has no discretion to pay benefits outside of this legislation.

The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is a Department of Health, Disability and Ageing publication listing services that are subsidised by the Australian Government under Medicare.

Medicare usually covers:

free or subsidised treatment by health professionals such as doctors, specialists, optometrists and in specific circumstances dentists and other allied health professionals
free treatment and accommodation as a public Medicare patient in a public hospital
75% of the Medicare Schedule fee for services and procedures if a person is a private patient in a public or private hospital - this does not include hospital accommodation and items such as theatre fees and medicines
some health care services in certain countries

The Resources page has forms used by Service Officers.

Archiving and document retrieval for Medicare

Authenticating a Medicare customer

Consumer Directory Maintenance System (CDMS) for Medicare

Digital Messaging Capability (DMC)

Disaster Health Care Assistance Scheme eligibility criteria and document requirements

Identity documents for Medicare, AIR (including CVCS) and IHI customers

Identity requirements for Medicare, AIR and IHI customers

Medicare identity documents A to Z

National Cancer Screening Register

National telephony protocols for Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)

Perform telephone security check for Medicare health professionals