Medicare...Prescriptions

[Guest]

Depending on the severity of your sons condition you might be able to get a healthcare card which significantly reduces the cost of prescriptions. If you apply for carers allowance there are two levels at which it is granted - one gives you a financial benefit, I got $60 a fortnight (I think!) and this isn't means tested, the other just gets you a healthcare card but that alone is worth it.

 

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/carer-allowance

 

I think everyone else has pretty much covered what I know but I can add if you need a medication not on the PBS then private health insurance will cover the cost of prescriptions outside of this (subject to a excess usually). My son was prescribed a treatment not available on Medicare and you just take your PHI card to the pharmacy and it is paid for directly by them.

 

To benefit from the 'safety net' you do have to keep good records of all the prescriptions you get - our local pharmacy had a computerised system and we always got our scripts there when possible so they kept the record for us. If we did pick up a prescription elsewhere we could take in the receipt and they would add it.

 

Oh how glad I am to be back in the UK, with both my son and I with chronic conditions we spent about $500 a month on health (including the PHI premium). In Scotland we have free prescriptions for all For now anyway!