Travel insurance needed?!

[Guest sarahsingleton]

Im currently coming to the end of my working holiday visa and will be starting my bridging visa at the beginning September whilst my application for my de facto visa is being considered.

 

My travel insurance expires on 1st September.

 

As I am not leaving Australia anytime soon (or until the decision is made which apparently could take anywhere between 9-15 months) is it worth getting travel insurance, am i covered by medicare? Once the temporary visa is granted would you still need travel insurance?

 

Any help is much appreciated!!

[nicolac34]

I would just extend your travel insurance by a couple of months until your de-facto comes into force.

[lebourvellec]

If you are from the UK you will still be covered by medicare while on bridging visa - if not you will be able to apply for medicare once the Partner visa is lodged, which will be stated in the letter you receive after you lodge the application.

[RockDr]

As Lebourvellec says, once you've applied for the 820, you can get a blue (interim) medicare card (full entitlement but needs renewing every year until you get the PR 801 visa - at which time you'll get the full green card). Since presumably you wouldn't be looking to be repatriated to the UK if you get sick, there's really no need for you to keep your travel insurance going. You will want to make sure you have ambulance cover, and look at getting contents insurance for your stuff.

 

If you want to, with the blue medicare card you can get the same health insurance as the locals (only issue is you have to pay monthly because you can't pay beyond the validity of your medicare card)