Someone else’s Medicare

Acting for someone else

When you act for someone it means you manage their Medicare affairs for them. There must be a good reason why they can’t do this. For instance, they may not be able to make decisions because of illness or disability.

To act for someone you must:

• be 18 or older
• be a close friend or relative of the person
• not have a paid job as their carer
• have evidence they can’t act for themselves, such as a medical certificate or power of attorney.

If you’re acting for someone, you can:

• ask us questions on their behalf
• make decisions about Medicare for them
• update their contact and bank details
• make Medicare claims for them.

There are 3 reasons why you can act for someone:

• you have their power of attorney
• you’re their legal guardian or administrator
• you need to act for them because they can’t act for themselves.

Applying to act for someone else

You need to apply to us if you want to act for someone and either:

• you don’t have their power of attorney
• you’re not their legal guardian or administrator.

To apply, follow these steps.

1. Fill in the authorisation to act on a person’s behalf form.
2. Get the documents you need to back up your application. This includes evidence that the person needs help.
3. Submit your form, documents and photo ID to us. The ways you can do this are on the form.

If you have a Power of Attorney (POA)

You just need to register it with us. You can either:

• take the original power of attorney document to a service centre
• post a certified copy of this document to us.

You should also provide us with your ID, your details and the person’s Medicare number.

If a court has made you the person’s guardian or administrator

You just need to register it with us. You can either:

• take the original court order to a service centre
• post a certified copy of this document to us.

You should also provide us with your ID, your details and the person’s Medicare number.