🇦🇺 Australia · Healthcare
How the Australia healthcare system works — public vs private care, eligibility, and costs for residents and visitors.
Australia's public health scheme, Medicare (run by Services Australia), covers citizens, permanent residents and people from countries with a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA). Other temporary residents — including most students — generally need private cover (students must hold Overseas Student Health Cover, OSHC). Many people also take private health insurance for extras and shorter waits.
- Medicare covers citizens, permanent residents and people from RHCA countries (11 countries) for medically-necessary care.
- Most temporary residents need private health cover; international students must hold OSHC.
- Medicare does not cover everything (e.g. most dental, ambulance, private-hospital care).
- Private health insurance is common for extras cover and to avoid the Medicare Levy Surcharge for higher earners.
Official authorities
- Medicare (Services Australia)
Official public health scheme information.
- Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (Services Australia)
Whether your country has a Medicare agreement.
Official-information aggregation, not legal advice. Always verify on the authority's own site.
Government portals
- Australian Government — Australian Government's official entry point — quick access to all department services
- Dept of Home Affairs — Student/work visas, skilled migration (189/190/491 subclasses), and citizenship applications
- Australian Tax Office (ATO) — TFN application, tax refunds, GST, superannuation, and personal income tax lodgment