[Mellor]

Originally Posted by No6

what about just general visits to the doctor, I am bringing a child who gets sick from time to time!!!

Not covered under recip. agreement.

If you were from northern ireland, you'd be covered as its technically its in the UK and their recip. agreement entitles them to medicare.

[Batgurl]

Originally Posted by kdevitt

You'll end up forking out cash for it. Its $55 for a childs visit at our doctors, and $75 for an adult, and $100 for a long visit.

As an example of how costs can rack up - my wife brought my son for a quick checkup a while back - all was fine, tooks 5 mins, so $55. The doctor said my wife looked a bit pale (she was shattered tired as the baby didn't sleep well at that stage) and she should probably have a blood check. Asked her to wait outside and she'd get a nurse to do the test. She ended up waiting an hour for the test, and the doctor said she had to be charged for a long visit - so $155 now incurred. Goes to pay at the counter and the blood tests were over $900. She rang me in tears asking to use my credit card - over $1k spent on one visit, baby was fine, wife was fine.

On that note, does anyone else find that doctors over here are more like Sales people??? Seriously trying to push test after test on you? I went in for a PAP smear (sorry squeamish lads) got the test, grand....paid my $70. All the time though the doc was pushing me to get the HPV vaccine which is $900 a pop and you need it 3 times!!!

Anyway, normally at home the doctor would ring you when the results come in and either say "yup your clear" or "can you please make an appointment to come back into discuss your results. So when I got the call to come back I was sh*tting myself only to be told "ok your all clear...that'll be $70 please"

So I thought screw that so if I'm paying $70 I'm getting my moneys worth and asked for my pill to be renewed and an inhaler refill. So before she prescribed it she wanted to run tests for endometritis and bronchitis ..."just in case"!!!

Last night then I open my post to find a further $50 bill which the lab want money for for performing the test?!?!?!?

I get that doctors over here can make money off the medicare system but I think they are seriously milking it and 457'ers like us are the ones who suffer.

FYI: I told her I didn't have medicare but that didn't stop her.

[kdevitt]

Yeah they totally milk it - they just do everything in their power to make as much money from patients as possible - given 99% of the patients are covered by medicare, its essentially free money for them and the patients don't care.

The doctors are also pretty oblivious to the costs associated because generally it makes no difference - my wife only found out she owed a grand as she went to leave - all the pricing was held by the girl at reception.

[Feelgood]

Out of curiosity, if a doctor sends you for an Ultrasound in a hospital. Is that covered under recip?

$900 for blood tests is a bit mental
I would have though $100 - $150 at the most. Is that across the board?

[Mellor]

Originally Posted by Feelgood

Out of curiosity, if a doctor sends you for an Ultrasound in a hospital. Is that covered under recip?

I would imagine its not covered as its not usually emergency treatment.

[ArseBurger]

in-patient care is covered. Some out-patient is, most isn't.

[joeyeire]

The company that are employing me and 350 other employee's in the uk and Ireland are saying that i need health insurance now for my visa as
I cannot sign up for medicare until I am physically in Australia
and i need health insurance in the interim ie get it out for a month then cancel it

[joeyeire]

I am from a country with a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia. Do I also need insurance?

If you are from a country with a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, you may be eligible to access Medicare. For further information you should refer to the Medicare Australia website.
See: Medicare Australia – Visitors to Australia

Being enrolled with Medicare under reciprocal health care arrangements is sufficient to meet the health insurance requirement at visa grant and to comply with visa condition 8501.

You can only enrol with Medicare if you are in Australia. If you have enrolled with Medicare you should provide evidence that you have been issued with a Medicare card as part of your application.

If you are overseas, you must arrange adequate insurance for your initial period in Australia and provide evidence of this insurance as part of your application. You may be eligible to then enrol with Medicare once you are in Australia. Being enrolled with Medicare is sufficient to comply with visa condition 8501.

[kdevitt]

You are not eligible for medicare if you are from Ireland - you do not need additional health insurance either. A copy of your Irish passport is sufficient evidence to cover the health insurance clause of your 457 visa.

[beartooth]

From my Agent dealing with my 457 application:

DIAC require that all temporary residence visa holders have adequate health care cover for the duration of their visit, and they require proof of this cover as part of the visa application. If you are a citizen of a country with whom Australia has a reciprocal health arrangement, you are eligible to apply for Medicare (similar to the NHS) membership once you arrive in Australia, and this meets the health care requirement for DIAC. However, as you can’t apply for enrolment on Medicare prior to your arrival, you will need to have private insurance in place to cover you until you are able to get to a Medicare office to enrol. There are a number of suppliers that are able to provide this short term cover, but the most comprehensive and best value for money are IMAN (www.austhealth.com.au) and Medibank (www.medibank.com.au – make sure you select Visitors and then Working Visitors). Once you apply, they will issue a letter stating that you have the required cover. Once you land and apply for Medicare (which is normally approved on the spot), then you can cancel your private cover if you wish.

[kdevitt]

Originally Posted by beartooth

From my Agent dealing with my 457 application:

If you are a citizen of a country with whom Australia has a reciprocal health arrangement, you are eligible to apply for Medicare (similar to the NHS) membership once you arrive in Australia, and this meets the health care requirement for DIAC.

Irish residents are NOT eligible for Medicare. This has been covered loads of times on here, and your agent is wrong.

As I mentioned, a copy of an Irish passport satisfies the health insurance requirements, you don't need a separate policy.

[beartooth]

I know and thought she was wrong.

This is however what the agents are asking for as part of the application.

[Mellor]

Originally Posted by joeyeire

The company that are employing me and 350 other employee's in the uk and Ireland are saying that i need health insurance now for my visa as
I cannot sign up for medicare until I am physically in Australia
and i need health insurance in the interim ie get it out for a month then cancel it

That is what happens if you are from the UK, inc NI when on a British passport.

Originally Posted by kdevitt

Irish residents are NOT eligible for Medicare. This has been covered loads of times on here, and your agent is wrong.

As I mentioned, a copy of an Irish passport satisfies the health insurance requirements, you don't need a separate policy.

What the agent is describing is how it works for most reciprocal agreement countries. So it might be correct depending on the poster. But assuming, it looks like the agent isn't aware of the different reciprocal agreements for Ireland compared to other countries.