Enrolling in Medicare

Who can enrol

You can enrol in Medicare if you live in Australia and you’re any of these:

• an Australian citizen
• a New Zealand citizen
• an Australian permanent resident
• applying for permanent residency
• a temporary resident covered by a ministerial order.

You can also enrol if you’re a citizen or permanent resident of any of these:

• Norfolk Island
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands
• Christmas Island
• Lord Howe Island.

You may be able to enrol if you’re visiting from a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement country.

What you need to enrol

You need to give us different documents depending on your circumstances. Read about the documents you need if:

• you’re an Australian citizen
• you’re a New Zealand citizen
• you’re a permanent resident
• you’re applying for permanent residency
• you’re a temporary resident covered by a Ministerial Order
• you’ve adopted a child.

If you’re visiting Australia, you’ll need different documents depending on where you’re from. Read more about Reciprocal Health Care Agreements.

How to enrol

Enrol in Medicare by following these steps:

1. complete a Medicare enrolment form
2. send your form and supporting documents to us. You can post them to the address on the form or email them to Medicare Enrolment Services.

If you’re enrolling as a family, you’ll need to nominate a contact person for your Medicare card. We’ll send Medicare cards and other general information for everyone listed on the card to the contact person.

If you’re the only person listed on the Medicare card, you’ll be the contact person for the card.

You can also get a digital copy of your Medicare card. You’ll need to sign into the Express Plus Medicare mobile app to access it. To use the app, you need a myGov account linked to your Medicare online account. If you don’t have these, set them up and then download the app.

Enrolling when you’re on your parent’s Medicare card

If you’re on your parent’s Medicare card, you’re already enrolled. This means you don’t need to re-enrol. When you’re 15 years old, you can get your own Medicare card.

Find out how to get your own card when you’re 15 years old.

Enrolling your newborn baby

You can enrol your newborn baby by using the Newborn Child Declaration. You’ll get the declaration from the hospital. Find out how to enrol your baby.

If you’ve adopted a child or your child was born overseas, you’ll need to give us extra documents. Read more about what to do:

• if you adopt a child
• if your child was born overseas.

Enrolling when you’re Indigenous

If you’re Indigenous and have common identity documents, mail or email them with your Medicare enrolment form to Medicare Enrolment Services.

If you don’t have standard identity documents, you can use a referee instead. You and your referee need to fill in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medicare enrolment and amendment form. The form says who can be a referee.

You can take your form to your local agent, access point or service centre.

Call the Indigenous Access Line if you need help with the form.

Enrolling when you’re visiting Australia

We can cover some health care costs if you’re from a country we have an agreement with. You can get care as a public patient in a public hospital without enrolling in Medicare.

Read more about medical care for visitors to Australia.

Read about assessing your eligibility.

When you’ll get a Medicare card

You’ll get a Medicare card number after you enrol in Medicare. Read more about how to get your Medicare card.