I am seeking clarity on the Lifetime Health Cover and the UK Australia reciprocal healthcare agreement and have two queries I am hoping a reader may have knowledge of. I am a British citizen with dual Australian citizenship, over the age of 31, residing in the UK and intending to move to Australia permanently. Thus I will be entering Australia as an Australian citizen. My queries are:
1. Will I be covered under the UK Australia reciprocal healthcare agreement and if so for what time period?
2. How much time will I have until I incur the 2% loading on the purchase of my health insurance?
I want to avoid using the 1094 days without health insurance incurring the2% loading allotted to each Australian citizen as I may need those 1094 days at a future point. I have contacted the NHS regarding my query (response was to contact the Australian High Commission), the Australian High Commission (response was to contact Medicare), Medicare (did not respond to any emails I took from the medicareaustralia and humanservices websites and when telephoned could not provide an email or telephone number for someone knowledgeable in the area) so I would be grateful for any information. With thanks