Travel Insurance

[Russ1976]

We arrive on our 1 year tourist visa in October. Can somebody explain to me if we require travel insurance for the whole period or if we apply for a Medicare card on arrival. We are more concerned with the ‘health’ side of insurance.

[Quoll]

You would be sensible to have travel insurance for the whole of your visit tbh. Assuming you are from UK, the reciprocal agreement will cover necessary medical care but that's not comprehensive and there are some little worst case nasties covered by your travel insurance like repatriation which isn't covered by Medicare. 

[rammygirl]

I agree you will also need to be covered for travel, you might have to shop around for extended cover though.

[Marisawright]

5 hours ago, Russ1976 said:

We arrive on our 1 year tourist visa in October. Can somebody explain to me if we require travel insurance for the whole period or if we apply for a Medicare card on arrival. We are more concerned with the ‘health’ side of insurance.

You will be covered by the reciprocal agreement between the UK and Australia while you are in Australia. You don't actually get a Medicare card as far as I know.  

The rule with reciprocal care is that you're covered for everything, UNLESS it can wait until you get home. So, for instance, let's say you had an accident here and had facial injuries.  You'd be treated here until you were well enough to travel, but if you needed further plastic surgery, that would have to wait until you got home to the UK. 

In practice, that rule isn't always rigidly applied and people do seem to get treatment regardless of whether it could wait. However that's not how it's supposed to work so it would be wise not to rely on it.

Also consider that Medicare does not cover you for repatriation.