Once you receive the acknowledgement of valid Permanent Visa application from the Department of Immigration and have permission to work in Australia you can enrol for Medicare.
In order to enrol for Medicare one needs to make a booking in person or on the phone with the nearest Medicare office. You can find your nearest office by entering your suburb or postcode here.
Once your booking is made you need to go in for your appointment with the following:
- Evidence of Permanent Visa lodgement
- Evidence of Right to Work
- Passport
Vincent says "We went in to the MetCentre office and it was pretty simple, the representative was polite, easy to talk to and answered our questions. My partner and I were discussing after the appointment that this was our best experience with a Government employee in any country!"
Once you are enrolled the representative will give you an interim receipt with your Medicare number on it which can be presented to Medical professionals while your card is on his way by post.
One can visit the Department of Human Services website, create an account and link Medicare
account to the myGov account and download the Medicare app onto your smart phone. Once you have the app connected to your Medicare account, it can also function as a virtual Medicare Card and you can use it instead of a physical card.
Vincent says "We were unable to link our Medicare to our myGov account maybe because our details were not updated on the system yet? But I was very impressed with the sheer ease with which we were able to enrol and then
create a myGov account. The Medicare representative also explained to us that we could register for an eHealth record, a secure online summary of your entire health information that you choose to keep. It is a great way to keep all your health information updated and you can choose who has access to it."
The representative also let Vincent and his partner know of the eHealth record and showed them his virtual Medicare card on his smart phone.
eHealth records are a personally controlled secure online summary of your health information, controlled only by you where relevant information is retained or deleted.
For eg: You may want to keep all your health records but not want to mention you saw a mental health professional to help deal with stress. You can also choose whether your doctor can update your records or have access to it.
