Wife pregnant how long for Medicare cover ?

[Dicko]

Hi, we are moving to Sydney in September. We are both permanent residents on our visas. My wife will be nearly 7 months pregnant with twins. We are trying to find out how long it takes to get covered/registered with Medicare. Our travel insurance expires 24 hours after our flight lands and we are concerned if there was a medical emergency with her in the following days/weeks, we would be in healthcare limbo. Is it also an option if possible to register before we leave the UK so we have continuity for peace of mind ?ThanksKeithPs. My wife would also like to know what the maternity hospitals are like out there if anyone has first hand experience of them.

[MARYROSE02]

Vistors from the UK are entitled to Medicare services under the reciprocal agreement between Australia and the UK. I'm pretty sure you can apply for your Medicare card as soon as you arrive in OZ.

 

I can't help you with advice about maternity hospitals, but I assume they are all OK.

 

[h=1]Health care for visitors to Australia[/h] The Australian Government has signed Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (RHCA) with the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Slovenia, Malta and Italy. These agreements entitle you to some subsidised health services for essential medical treatment while visiting Australia.

If you applied for, or received a Subclass Visa 410 (Retiree Visa) before 1 December 1998, you may be able to access Medicare under the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement of your home country.

If you applied for Subclass Visa 410 after 1 December 1998, you’re not eligible for Medicare and you’re not covered under the Reciprocal Health Care Agreements.

[h=2]Period of cover[/h] If you are a resident of New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Finland or Norway, you are covered for the length of your stay in Australia.

If you are a visitor from Belgium, the Netherlands or Slovenia, you need your European Health Insurance card to enrol in Medicare. You are eligible until the expiry date shown on the card, or for the length of your authorised stay in Australia, if that is an earlier date.

If you are visiting from Malta or Italy, and you are a resident and citizen of those countries, you’ll be covered by Medicare for a period of six months from the date of your arrival in Australia.

[h=2]Access to cover[/h] Reciprocal Health Care Agreements cover treatment that is medically essential. This means any ill-health or injury which occurs while you are in Australia and requires treatment before you return home.

[h=2]Students[/h] If you are in Australia on a student visa from the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Italy or New Zealand, you are covered by Medicare. Students from Norway, Finland, Malta and the Republic of Ireland are not covered by the agreements with those countries.

Note: With the exception of students from Belgium, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden it is a condition of your student visa that you take out Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC).

[h=2]Your entitlements[/h] As a resident of one of these countries, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Norway, Slovenia, Malta and Italy, you are entitled to the following health or injury treatments while you are in Australia:

 

 

• free treatment as a public in-patient or out-patient in a public hospital
  
• subsidised medicine under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
  
• Medicare benefits for out-of-hospital treatment provided by a doctor
  

 

Residents of the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand are entitled to:

 

 

• services as a public patient in a public hospital (including outpatient services) for medically necessary treatment medicines available on prescription which are subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), at the general rate
  

 

[h=2]Treatment outside a hospital[/h] You can get medical treatment in private doctors' practices and community health centres. Doctors in these practices charge for their services in one of the following ways.

[h=3]1. The doctor bills Medicare directly[/h] You’ll be asked to show your reciprocal health care card and sign a completed Medicare bulk bill form after seeing the doctor but you won’t need to pay. Please note not all doctors bulk bill.

[h=3]2. The doctor gives you a bill[/h] Doctors who don’t bulk bill will ask you to pay a fee at the time of consultation. You can either pay the full bill, or lodge the unpaid bill with Medicare.

If you pay the full bill at the time of consultation, you can:

 

 

• ask the reception staff if they can lodge your Medicare claim for you
  
• claim your benefit in person at a DHS Service Centre
  
• send a completed Medicare claim form, the original doctor’s bill and receipt to the Department of Human Services, GPO Box 9822, in your capital city. We will send you a cheque to cover the Medicare portion of the bill
  
• claim online by Self service
  
• claim over the phone by calling 132 011
  

 

To lodge your unpaid bill you need to:

 

 

• take the unpaid bill and a completed claim form to a DHS Service Centre, or send it to the Department of Human Services, GPO Box 9822, in your capital city. We will send you a cheque made payable to the doctor
  
• take the cheque to your doctor and pay the difference between the Medicare benefit and the total fee charged by the doctor
  

 

[h=2]Treatment in a hospital[/h] If you receive essential medical treatment as a public patient in a public hospital, you won't be charged for any treatment or accommodation. Simply show your passport or reciprocal health care card to staff when you arrive at the hospital.

If you elect to be treated as a private patient in a public hospital or as a private patient in a private hospital, you will be charged for both medical treatment and accommodation. These fees can't be claimed from Medicare.

[h=3]3. Medical services not covered by Medicare[/h] Medicare will not cover:

 

 

• medicine not subsidised under the PBS
  
• treatment arranged before your visit to Australia
  
• accommodation and medical treatment in a private hospital
  
• accommodation and medical treatment as a private patient in a public hospital
  
• ambulance services
  
• dental examinations and treatment (except specified items introduced for allied health services as part of the Chronic Disease Management (CDM) program
  
• physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, eye therapy, chiropractic services, podiatry or psychology (except specified items introduced for allied health services as part of the CDM program
  
• acupuncture (unless part of a doctor's consultation)
  
• glasses and contact lenses
  
• hearing aids and other appliances
  
• the cost of prostheses
  
• medical costs for which someone else is responsible (for example a compensation insurer, an employer, a government or government authority)
  
• medical services which are not clinically necessary
  
• surgery solely for cosmetic reasons
  
• examinations for life insurance, superannuation or membership of a friendly society
  
• eye therapy
  
• home nursing
  

 

You can take out private health insurance to cover many of these services

[JockinTas]

I had both my boys in public hospitals and received excellent care and attention. Couldn't praise the midwives highly enough. I was also very lucky because my GP was also an obstetrician and cared for me right through my pregnancies and was there to deliver the boys and because he was our GP, gave them their check ups and needles for mumps, measles etc.

[srh82]

Maybe best to let your wife give birth in the UK? Then travel out afterwards....

[wrussell]

I'm pretty sure you can apply for your Medicare card as soon as you arrive in OZ

 

Correct

[AJ]

Maybe best to let your wife give birth in the UK? Then travel out afterwards....

Why, its absolutely no problem here, I travelled over at 29 weeks. If you did that you could not add baby onto Visa you would need to apply for a separate Child Visa and have months of delay.

 

When you get here, get yourself to a GP, just the closest medical centre will do, and get a referral to the maternity unit. You can then make an appointment with them. They gave me a check up pretty quickly and then they take over her care, obs, midwife care etc, no problem. You do not need private health care, too late anyway they have a 12 month waiting period. You can register straight away and you will get a temporary Medicare card. An advantage is because you are PR, the baby will be a citizen from birth. The care is excellent here, dont worry, she will be well taken care of.

Edited June 27, 2015 by AJ

[srh82]

Travelling when due with twins and 7 months gone does not sound in any way a good idea @AJ

[Nickandpaula]

Travelling when due with twins and 7 months gone does not sound in any way a good idea @AJ

 

 

Were are trying for the same thing. It's going to cost another £1500 I believe and approx 6 months to sort a visa out for our baby if we don't fly by the 12th August.

[AJ]

 

Travelling when due with twins and 7 months gone does not sound in any way a good idea @AJ

i don't know if it makes it any different with twins but as I said I managed to travel from Uk at over 7 months! As long as you gave had a healthy pregnancy flying is not dangerous, it is only 24 hours. Airlines will fly you up to 36 weeks. Edited June 27, 2015 by AJ

[Nats]

i don't know if it makes it any different with twins but as I said I managed to travel from Uk at over 7 months! As long as you gave had a healthy pregnancy flying is not dangerous, it is only 24 hours. Airlines will fly you up to 36 weeks.

 

A twin pregnancy carries greater risk of pre-term labour, amongst other things. A twin pregnancy, however healthy is not treated same as singleton pregnancy. Obstetrician is pretty much involved from the get go, unlike for example, the 'birth centre' /midwife route I chose when giving birth to my little boy, simple things such as this are not a 'choice' here when carrying twins.

The flight in itself may put strain on the pregnancy at such a late stage. Can't you fly sooner?? What the others have said before is absolutely true, you are entitled to reciprocal care from the moment you arrive, I had my baby in Brisbane and the care was exceptional. A friend of mine gave birth in Sydney and again, couldn't be happier with the care she received. Much like the UK, you will get mixed reviews depending on person/time/maternity hospital & circumstance. If you give birth to your little ones here in Australia, being residents already the children have citizenship outright. That in itself is an incentive to have them here, but I'd be wary leaving travel so late. Make sure you register with a GP as a matter of priority & get an obstetrics referral ASAP!

 

best of luck with everything x

[LKC]

If you go and register with Medicare when you arrive, you will get a temporary Medicare number to use (ours was like a receipt) until your Medicare card arrives. You can use that to see a GP etc. We had to go to the hospital a couple of days after we arrived with our baby (suspected meningitis) and hadn't registered with Medicare at that point, but it was no problem. We just showed our passports and the hospital sorted things out for us. I would recommend that you take out ambulance cover as soon as you can though, as we hadn't got that and ended up paying about $380 or something for the ambulance to the hospital. That was just a straightforward 15 minute trip for daughter and I, and I would imagine that any kind of pregnancy-related emergency would be far more expensive.

[Nats]

Just had another thought, does the airline know that your wife will be ~7 months with twins when travelling?? They can refuse boarding, at the very least she will require a letter from specialist stating that she is 'safe' to fly. Not trying to be all doom & gloom, but better to be prepared. As I said before, despite your wife being healthy & the pregnancy going well.. twin pregnancies are treated differently as they can be very unpredictable.

 

nats

[Loopylu]

Just had another thought, does the airline know that your wife will be ~7 months with twins when travelling?? They can refuse boarding, at the very least she will require a letter from specialist stating that she is 'safe' to fly. Not trying to be all doom & gloom, but better to be prepared. As I said before, despite your wife being healthy & the pregnancy going well.. twin pregnancies are treated differently as they can be very unpredictable.

 

nats

 

I agree with you Nats that it is not a good idea to fly so late in a twin pregnancy. This NHS note states that most airlines won't let you fly past 32 weeks with a twin pregnancy.

 

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/927.aspx?CategoryID=54

 

My twins came at 34.5 weeks but my GP signed me off at 27 weeks because I was enormous and she didn't want me commuting an hour each way to work on the train in that condition... I think 24+ hours of travelling at 7 months would be pretty unbearable and dangerous.