Medicare card (Australia)

An Australian Medicare Card is a green-coloured plastic card (or light blue for interim cards, or light yellow for Reciprocal Health Care Agreement visitors cards) that is issued to individuals or families who are eligible to receive a rebate of medical expenses under the Australian Medicare system when they are treated privately by a doctor with a provider number. All permanent residents of Australia are eligible for a Medicare Card, except for those resident on Norfolk Island, where the Medicare system does not apply, or those who are not deemed to be residing in Australia; eligibility is not based on Australian citizenship. The card lists an individual as well as any members of his or her family he or she chooses to add who are also permanent residents and meet the Medicare definition of dependent. The card must be produced or the Medicare number provided if the Medicare rebate is paid directly to the doctor under the bulk billing system. It is also necessary to provide a Medicare number (although not necessarily show the card) to gain access to the public hospital system to be treated at no cost as a public patient. For non-elective treatment (e.g. emergency), public hospitals will admit patients without a number or card and resolve Medicare eligibility issues after treatment.

Australian Medicare is administered by Medicare Australia (until late 2005 known as the Health Insurance Commission (HIC)) which also has responsibility for supplying Medicare cards and numbers. Almost every eligible person has a card: in June 2002 there were 20.4 million Medicare cardholders, and the Australian population was less than 20 million at the time (cardholders includes overseas Australians who still have a card).

However, the use of the card is relevant only to consultations with medical practitioners who are eligible for Medicare provider numbers. Such access has been made subject to increasing requirements since the mid-1990s.

The widespread use of the Medicare card means a distinction needs to be drawn between the card and failed proposals for an Australia Card. The Medicare card is used for health care purposes only and cannot be used to track in a database a number of activities. It contains a name and number, and no visible photograph (however, the Tasmanian "Smartcard" version has an electronic image of the cardholder on an embedded chip). Individuals are not legally required to have a Medicare card, to carry it with them, or to produce it on request.

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