We have information in different languages about About Medicare
Medicare is Australia's health care system
Medicare held payments
For help with Medicare, you can call the Medicare program line. Let us know if you need an interpreter and we'll arrange one for free.
We help Australians with the cost of their health care.
We started out on 1 February 1984 to help pay for health care services.
Read about the history of Medicare on the National Museum of Australia website.
Australians can enrol in Medicare. Find out more about enrolling in Medicare.
How Medicare works
When you enrol in Medicare, we pay some or all of the cost of your necessary health care.
Keep in mind, we don’t pay for all health care services.
You can find the services we cover in the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). MBS Online is managed by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
Read more about what’s covered.
If your doctor bulk bills, we pay the cost directly to the doctor. This means you won’t have to pay anything. Read more about how bulk billing works.
If your doctor doesn’t bulk bill, you may have to pay for the cost of your health care service. You may be able to claim some of this money back from us.
We also help make some medicines more affordable for you through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Read more about Medicine and Medicare.
You need to discuss with your health professional about any costs involved. If you have high medical costs, there are ways to help keep your costs under control. Read more about help with medical costs.
You can also use the Medical Costs Finder on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website to search the fees and costs of common medical services in Australia.
Medicare funding
Medicare is a national scheme that provides Australians (and some overseas visitors) with free or subsidised health services.
Australians help to cover its costs through the Medicare levy.
Read more about Medicare and tax.