Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) 065-06000000

To qualify for a CSHC the customer must:

• have reached Age Pension age, and
• not be receiving a Centrelink or Department of Veterans' Affairs payment. See Resources page for a link to the Services Australia website for Income support payment, and
• provide details of their tax file number (or be granted an exemption from doing so), and
• meet residence requirements, and
• meet the CSHC income test. See Resources page for a link to the Services Australia website for Income test for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

From 3 June 2023 the CSHC will transition from a 1 year to 2 year validity, with expiry dates aligning to the customer’s birth month. New CSHC customers will be issued with a card valid for a period of 15 to 26 month. These cards will expire on the last day of the customer’s birth month.

Current CSHC customers with a card due to expire on 30 September 2023 will be issued a new card in the 2023 annual bulk issue of CSHC. These cards will be valid for a period of 15 to 26 months, with the card expiring on the last day of customer’s birth month.

CSHCs will continue to be automatically reissued to eligible customers 4-6 weeks prior to the card expiring.

The Commonwealth Government issues the CSHC. Some States and Territories may offer more concessions to holders of both CSHCs and State Seniors Cards.

CSHC holders may be entitled to:

• pharmaceuticals listed under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) at the concessional rate
• bulk-billed General Practitioner (GP) appointments
• a reduction in the cost of out-of-hospital medical expenses above a concessional threshold through the Medicare Safety Net

In some instances, extra health, household, transport, education and recreation concessions may be offered by:

• state or territory,
• local governments, and
• private providers

Energy Supplement

The Energy supplement stopped for all new CSHC claimants from 20 March 2017. Only CSHC holders who are grandfathered for Energy Supplement will get the payment from 20 March 2017 onwards. For details, see Energy Supplement for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders.

Economic Support Payment

CSHC holders are entitled to get the Economic Support Payment if they were eligible during the target period(s). For more details, see Economic Support Payment.

To get these payments, the customer must have a SHC payment destination recorded on the Payment Destination Summary (PAS) screen.

Current CSHC Customers can add or update their payment destination using their Centrelink self service.

Because of changes to the asset test, customers who had their pension cancelled (CAN/ASS) with a 1 January 2017 date of effect, were automatically issued non-income tested concession cards. If they were:

• Age Pension age or over on 1 January 2017, a non-income tested Low Income Health Care Card (LIC) and a non-income tested CSHC were issued
• under Age Pension age on 1 January 2017, a non-income tested LIC was issued. The customer can apply for the non-income tested CSHC when they reach Age Pension age

From 9 October 2017, a non-pensioner Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) replaced the non-income tested LIC.

For more details, see Non-income tested (NOI) concession cards.

Customers who get their entire payment as a loan via the Home Equity Access Scheme (the Scheme) and do not receive any other components of the qualifying social security pension:

• are not eligible for a Pensioner Concession Card (PCC)
• these customers should be encouraged to claim a CSHC

The exception to this is for customers who had their pension cancelled (CAN/ASS) on 1 January 2017 as a direct result of changes to the pension assets test. The Home Equity Access Scheme only customers who are grandfathered (GRF) for the grandfathering type 2017 Rebalance Assets Cards (RAC), as per the Grandfathering Summary (GFS) screen:

• are automatically eligible for a non-income tested CSHC from 1 January 2017, and
• a non-pensioner PCC from 9 October 2017

For more details, see Non-income tested (NOI) concession cards.

Customers can see a digital copy of their CSHC in the digital wallet via their Express Plus Centrelink mobile app or the myGov app wallet. See Resources page for a link.

It allows customers to use their concession card using their smart device. It is at the discretion of the concession provider whether they accept the digital card. It is important that customers have their physical card with them.