Health Insurance for 457 visa

[Needtoknow]

Hi all

Questions keep arising as we continue to proceed with this idea to move to Australia.

Do we need health insurance for a 457 visa and if so, what sort of cover is accepted?

I hope someone can help with this as we need to start working out costs etc

Thank you

.

[Bungo]

You will need it to get the visa granted. You just need health insurance, not sure there are that many different types to choose from to be honest. You can cancel it later if you want and are happy to rely upon reciprocal state health care cover (medicare), this would cover you for urgent treatment.

[Needtoknow]

You will need it to get the visa granted. You just need health insurance, not sure there are that many different types to choose from to be honest. You can cancel it later if you want and are happy to rely upon reciprocal state health care cover (medicare), this would cover you for urgent treatment.

 

Thank you. I googled it and there were different types like hospital cover, general cover or both and I got a shock at the prices.

Are we entitled to their Medicare? I know this is the Oz version of our NHS isnt it?

[Croft]

Thank you. I googled it and there were different types like hospital cover, general cover or both and I got a shock at the prices.

Are we entitled to their Medicare? I know this is the Oz version of our NHS isnt it?

 

if you are a UK passport holder you are covered by the reciprocal healthcare agreement. However this doesn't kick in until you have registered with Medicare so you need insurance to cover your travel and the short period before you register. Details here http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/overseas/457visa.htm

 

The NHS is free at point of delivery. Medicare sometimes involves paying up front and claiming back (sometimes they 'bulk bill' in which case you don't have to pay). Sometimes you have to pay a 'gap payment' which is the difference between what the government say you should be charged and what the medical professional think they can deliver a service at. For example, if you have a doctors appointment at weekends are in the evening you are more likely to have to pay a gap payment. Upside is that you get a doctors appointment very quickly, ie within an hour or two.

[Kelsb21]

Hi, we used Bupa gold extras for our health insurance for the 457 visa applications. Once we got to OZ we used the Medicare system and I adjusted my health insurance accordingly to ensure I wasn't paying for things that were covered by the Medicare system.