Medicare is Australia’s universal health care system.

If you’re enrolled in Medicare, you can access a range of health care services for free or at a lower cost, including medical services by doctors, specialists and other health professionals, hospital treatment, and prescription medicines.

If your doctor or specialist bulk bills, we pay the cost directly to them. This means you won’t have to pay anything. If your medical or allied health professional doesn’t bulk bill, you may be able to claim some of this money back from us.

If you spend a lot of money on out-of-hospital medical costs or medications over the year, you may be able to access higher benefits through the Medicare Safety Net or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Safety Net.

You can enrol in Medicare if you live in Australia and you’re an Australian or New Zealand Citizen, an Australian permanent resident or applying for permanent residency, a temporary resident covered by a ministerial order or visiting from a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement country.

To enrol you can download the Medicare enrolment form from the Service Australia website. When you’ve filled it in, email us the completed form and certified copies of your supporting documents.

When you’re enrolled we will send you a Medicare card.

A Medicare online account lets you keep your details up to date, claim rebates, and access your statements.

You need to sign in through myGov to link your Medicare online account. When you’ve done this, you can access your Medicare details through your myGov account or use the Express Plus Medicare mobile app.

The Express Plus Medicare mobile app also has a digital copy of your Medicare card that you can start using as soon as you are enrolled.

To find out more, go to servicesaustralia.gov.au/medicare