Medicare FAQs
Medicare Website
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/
Claiming
At North Beach Medical Centre, we offer a range of claiming options.
- You may pay an account and take the receipt to an office to receive your rebate.
- Register your bank details at the Practice, there by having the claim processed and deposited into a bank account of you choice. (takes up to 48 hours)
- Use you EFTPOS card to have you rebate processed and deposited into a Cheque or Savings account. (Takes up to 5 hours. It can not be processed as a payment towards you Credit Card)
- Send the Claim to Medicare at the time of visit and have a cheque sent to your house. (This takes up to two weeks and you will need to have your address up to date with Medicare)
- In addition to this if you have registered your bank details with Medicare, let the Staff know and we can process the claim that way.
- As of Nov 2011 you can Claim Your rebate on the medicare website if the item no is a 3,23,36. the link to do this is found here
- If you are unable to pay at the time the reception staff will process a Negative Claim by which you only get charged for the Private Gap payment, you will be sent a Cheque in the Doctors name, which you will need to bring to the Practice with in a week of receiving it. This will mean that you are unable to claim Medicare as the amount you would have received was discounted of you bill.
- Patients who have debt will not be able to see the Doctors until they have paid for their accounts.
Private Health Funds generally don’t offer rebates for GP Services, as Medicare does.
Saftey Net Fact Sheet
Forms
Information about Medicare
FAQ (frequently asked questions)
Useful terms to know
Out-of-pocket costs—the difference between the Medicare benefit and what your doctor charges you.
Schedule fee—a fee for service set by the Australian Government.
Gap amount—the difference between the Medicare benefit and the schedule fee.
Bulk-bill- this is where the Doctor allows a patient to be seen for a lower fee that is directly paid from Medicare. (At North Beach Medical Centre, all Pensions, Children Under 12 are Bulk-billed, excluding Saturdays and 1st visits)
Veterans– Full Cover Veterans are paid for by the Department of Veterans Affairs, at all times. If you hold a partial cover you will only have Medical issues that relate to you illness/ injury paid for.