Health: Medicare, GPs and bulk billing, PBS prescriptions and mental health

To use health care in Australia, first check whether you can enrol in Medicare (citizens, permanent residents and people who have applied for permanent residence can; most temporary visa holders rely on OSHC or OVHC insurance). Then find a bulk-billing GP so visits cost nothing, and buy prescription medicines at the standard PBS co-payment. For urgent but not life-threatening problems, go to a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic or call the free healthdirect line first. In an emergency, call 000. Each step links to a verified guide and the official source.

Medicare is Australia's public health insurance. As a public patient in a public hospital you are treated free, GP and specialist visits and tests are subsidised, and PBS prescription medicines are cheaper. Australian citizens, permanent residents, and people who have applied for a permanent visa and meet the conditions can enrol. Most temporary visa holders (students, work visas) are not eligible and rely on OSHC or OVHC insurance instead. You can enrol in myGov, or fill in form MS004 and post or email it.

If you are struggling, having thoughts of suicide or worried about someone close to you, Australia has free 24-hour helplines: Lifeline 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. If life is in danger, call 000. If your English is limited, call the interpreter service TIS on 131 450 first, say your language, and ask to be connected to the helpline. For ongoing treatment, your GP can prepare a Mental Health Treatment Plan so that Medicare pays towards psychological therapy. You can also walk into a free Medicare Mental Health Centre with no referral and no Medicare card.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is the Australian Government's subsidy for prescription medicines. If the medicine is on the PBS list and you have a Medicare card, you pay only a capped co-payment and the government pays the rest. From 1 January 2026, general patients pay at most A$25.00 per prescription and concession card holders at most A$7.70. Once your co-payments in a calendar year reach the Safety Net threshold, medicines are cheaper or even free for the rest of the year. People without Medicare pay the full price.

In Australia you usually see a GP (general practitioner, or family doctor) first when you are unwell. If the clinic bulk bills, it charges Medicare directly and you pay nothing. If it does not, you pay the full fee first and then claim the Medicare benefit back; the difference (the gap) is your cost. From 1 November 2025 the government extended bulk billing incentives to every patient with Medicare, so more clinics now bulk bill. The easiest thing is to ask 'Do you bulk bill?' when you book.