geordie mandy

I had to take my youngest to an out of hours clinic last weekend for an infected fingernail, poor kid was in agony with puss coming out and i knew he needed antibiotics. In total we paid $100 and got back $40 from the medicare place. We also paid for his prescription, which i understand is normal.
So how does medicare and bulk billing work and how do i find out about bulk billing drs in Darwin? Im all confused, im also looking in to having private health insurance,due to on going medical problems.
I would appreciate the idiot guide to understanding the information as im easily confused
Mandy

ABCDiamond

If a Doctor fully bulk bills, they will not charge you, but they will get paid all of the scheduled fee direct from the Medicare.

Some Doctors wish to charge, say $50.00 or more, so one of two things happens:

• The doctor will charge you say $50, and YOU claim 100% of the scheduled $33.55 fee back from the local Medicare Office. Net cost to you = $16.45
  
• The doctor collects $16.45 from you, and gets you to sign the Medicare benefit over to them, and they claim the $33.55 direct from Medicare. Net cost is the same.

ABCDiamond

Try these for bulk billing, they may still do it:

Moil Medical Centre – 8 Budgen Street, Moil T: 8945 1211
Nakara Medical Centre - 35 Macredie Street, Nakara T: 8927 1873

Many people go to the the local public hospital A&E section, as it is free.

itxrd

Do a search

Kingseat

aahhh, don't you love helpful posts!



I have a dr that bulk bills but only for children under 12 I think. It is good as I have only ever had to pay for a prescription for our 2 year old.

ABCDiamond

I am about to sign up for a Doctors service that comes to the house, evenings and weekends, and that is also bulk billed. It has a subscription cost of about $30 per year though.

Pollyana

Its no wonder people are put off posting here. It actually isn't always best to do a search - a lot of info on here changes rapidly so you have to be sure that the threads you find are current info, also even the site owners admit there are frequently problems with the search function.

I've been answering questions on here for years, and the same questions come up again and again, but to the OP they are always a new problem. Patience and understanding go a long way........especially when someone has just arrived and is still in that "rabbit caught in the headlights"phase!

asprilla

If you want to understand how it works - see the posts above.

If you are wondering "why" and want to know the logic behind it.... don't bother, because there doesn't appear to be any.

geordie mandy

Thanks for the suggestion, i did a search on google and found very little information and got very confused, so i did what most people do ask for a little help. Ive been a member on BE for many years now and thebulk of the time i find it very helpful.

Thanks to everyone else for the help its appreciated
Mandy

geordie mandy

Thanks it seems little clearer now, just sems like a strange system, but i suppose i will get used to it eventually
Mandy

koalakim

I'm with you Mandy, I did a search or even tried to find a Medicare list of doctors and found very little on line.....but then that's Oz for you sometimes!

When I moved to a new area in the UK the NHS website had a list of all local doctors.

I think it's a case of driving around and seeing which one has the Bulk Billing sign outside it.

itxrd

Do a search and read posts over the past year ;-). Wasn't trying to be rude Geordie Mandy - a lot of people post on here without bothering to look elsewhere. Guess that wasn't you so apologies

jad n rich

Just grab your yellow pages, doctors run like a business here and and those that bulkbill often advertise it. However phone to check first, one lot of medical centres in qld advertised 100% bulk billing but that was only if you were a child/pensioner etc

fish.01

Which bits seem strange?....we might be able to give you the background on it to help you understand.

ABCDiamond

In the areas that there is a shortage they tend not to advertise it too much, and I think that the Canberra area will come into that category.

My own doctor doesn't advertise it these days.
Once they have built their practice, they seem to get enough customers/patients to not need to push the bulk billing side of things. Some doctors go a stage further, and reduce down to just children and concession card holders.