Hi welcome back to the channel today we're going to be talking about the australian healthcare system because many people have been asking me they're about to come to australia and they want to know what health insurance to get or they don't really know how to access especially so a doctor so we're going to talk about all that today let's get started okay the first thing that you need to know is that if you want to go to a doctor here in australia you first need to go to a gp But what is a GP? A GP is a general practitioner or family doctor. This is a doctor that specializes in general medicine. So for example, if you have a tummy ache, you're going to go first to your GP, to the general practitioner, and they're going to prescribe something for you, whether it is medication or something, to make that tummy ache go away. If your tummy ache gets worse over time, and it gets more serious, then you go back to your GP and you ask them for a referral.
That is, they're going to refer you to a specialist. For example, in this case, a gastroenterologist, for them to do more medical checks on you. Perhaps you need an x-ray or an endoscopy or something. So you always go to the GP first and then if your medical condition gets more serious, you're going to be referred to a specialist. Okay, another thing that you need to know is that you're probably going to come across the term Medicare.
Medicare is basically the Australian health insurance scheme. In other words, it's a public health insurance that Australians get in order to access medical services for free or at a discounted price. What does Medicare cover?
Public hospital fees, that is, if you need to go to a hospital for an emergency. your hospital fees will be covered by Medicare. Another thing that Medicare covers is out of hospital care.
For example, if you go to a GP that doesn't have bulk billing but you have Medicare, you may be able to get a 40% Medicare rebate. You might be asking what is bulk billing? Okay, bulk billing is when Medicare covers your total medical fee, your total medical costs. There are some GPs that offer bulk billing services but there are other GPs that don't. Okay, now let's go back to the example of the Medicare rebate.
Say, for example, that you have a tummy ache, you go to a GP, and this GP doesn't have bulk billing, but you have Medicare, you may be able to get a 40% Medicare rebate. So in this case, if the total consultation fee is $98, your Medicare rebate is $39. And your out-of-pocket expenses are $58. Australian dollars.
So those 58 Australian dollars are your out-of-pocket expenses and you need to learn this term because it's very very important. This is basically the money that you pay and that it's not covered by Medicare. Another Medicare benefit is subsidized medication, that is you may get some medicines at a discounted price. Medicare doesn't cover dental care expenses. or surgery or stays at private hospitals or ambulance services.
Another question that many people ask is can I get Medicare as a migrant and the answer is it depends. If you're on a permanent residency or humanitarian visa you might get access to Medicare services. Another instance when you can get Medicare benefits is that when you are a citizen of a country that has a reciprocal healthcare agreement with Australia.
I'll leave you a link down below with more information on eligible countries and what benefits you may get. Some of these countries are UK, Italy, the Netherlands and others but have a look. On the other hand, if you're a temporary visa holder and you're not part of any of these countries then you're unable to get access to Medicare and you're going to need to get private health insurance and this is usually a requirement of your visa as well. Here is a table where it shows you all the different visas and the different private health insurance requirements i'll leave you the link down below okay now let's talk a bit more about private health insurance private health insurance is basically like medicare but you pay for this so it's insurance that you pay in case you get injured you have an accident or you get sick it's basically a service that covers some or all of your medical expenses depending on the type of cover that you get How much does health insurance cost? This is going to vary according to the cover that you get.
If you're a young healthy person, your medical needs might be very different to someone who's older or who has a chronic health condition. If you're in the process of coming to Australia and you need to get... private health insurance, I'll leave you a link down below to APRA. This is the agency that accredits all private health insurance providers, makes sure that they're registered with this organization and also I'll leave you a link to compare the different health insurance policies according to your needs. Another good thing is that if you go for example to a specific private health insurance, usually in their website they have filters where you're able to specify your needs.
If you're single, a couple or a family, they're going to give you the best options for you. In terms of costs, you can expect to pay around a hundred dollars. Australian dollars per month for private health insurance but again this is going to vary and going to be different from person to person according to your medical needs. Another good thing about private health insurance and that's why many Australians also get private health insurance services on top of their Medicare because they cover stays and treatments both in public and private hospitals. You can also add extras such as dental care or specific surgeries and they also use usually cover ambulance services, which Medicare doesn't.
Now, something that you need to take into account is that private health insurance providers usually have a 12-month waiting period for pre-existing conditions. But what is a pre-existing condition? For example, say that before coming to Australia, you had a specific disease or medical condition this is considered a pre-existing condition because it existed before coming to Australia and as such once you come to Australia you'll have to wait for at least 12 months for your health insurance provider to cover all medical costs related to this pre-existing condition Okay now, many people have been asking what's the difference between private hospitals and public hospitals.
A public hospital usually is covered by Medicare, meaning that it's free. Usually you go to the public hospital when you have an emergency or if a doctor referred you to have a specific surgery or an examination. The main difference between public hospitals and private hospitals is that public hospitals usually have a long wait. time whereas private hospitals usually go and you're seen by a doctor right away of course for private hospitals you have to pay money you have to pay more and it's not free so that's the main difference and of course private hospitals are owned by a private company and are not public okay what happens if you have an emergency here in australia the first thing that you have to do if you have a serious emergency is to call triple zero on the other hand if you have a very strong tummy ache something of that nature you go to the emergency room and they're going to see you and make you wait according to how serious the condition is.
Another thing that you need to know is that there are community health Community health centers are state level facilities that provide medical services for people on low incomes and they charge fees according to how much the client can pay. My understanding is that these community health centers are available for everyone and anyone that can access them but I'll leave you a link down below if you want to know a bit more about this. You have all the information you need. in this website.
I hope this video is a good overview for you on the healthcare system in Australia and I really hope you enjoyed this video and if you like it please like and subscribe to support the channel. I also have other videos on other services that you may be interested in about hairdressers, dentists, psychologists etc. Check it out here and I'll see you next time. Bye!