Hello

I know that i am going to repeat a question asked many times but can anyone shed any light on the cost of Medicare an average monthly price would be good.

My family consists of me n the missus n four kids

any help would be good.

Carl

You don't pay anything for Medicare. It's free.

Free well now i am totlay confused

what medical stuff do we pay for?

thanks

Medicare is the State medical system. What happens in most cases is you go to your GP. He charges you $x, you go along to a Medicare center and make a claim, and they give you back a percentage of $x. If you find something called a 'Bulk Billing GP' then it costs you nothing and you avoid the Medicare nonsense altogether.

I'm assuming what you really mean is how much is the average cost of private medical cover??

Complicated question, based on how much cover you want and how many in the family. For me, with three adults and one child its about $5k pa

Professional couple in 30's is around $2000 on a private cover (company scheme) - depends on the level of cover you want too.

Medicare will cost you 1.5% of your taxable income, extracted from your pocket with your income tax. Add to that a further 1% if you dont have private health cover and earn over about $120k pa as a family.

Our private health cover is $250 a month.

Yep, not free at all.

Also be aware that it does not cover dental, braces, scripts, specs, ( basic eye exam only ) etc etc

Also it only covers a % of the 'schedule fee' that is the figure decided upon that has no relevance to the actual cost charged by the doc. EG, bill $80 medicare refund $37.

Main thing medicare is good for is emergency care in hosp, however if its not an emergency there may well be a long wait list and private comes in again.

However private does not cover everything either.....

If your planning on being sick or needing a dentist just bring loads of cash

Like the NHS, Medicare is not free - it's one of the reasons we pay taxes.

$140k rather than $120k

Public Hospital

NHS = Free
Medicare = Free

Public Specialists

NHS = Free (some long waits, some not)
Medicare = Free (some long waits, some not)

GP's

NHS = Free
Medicare = 80% of visits Australia-wide free - if you get a paying one it will cost you a gap fee of about $35 average - note, smaller towns have worse access to free GP's. Pensioners, children often free even at GP's where you pay. Medicare Safety Net if you pay too much over the year.

Medicines

NHS Script = Approx $16 , free repeats
Medicare Script = Max $32.90, pay for repeats - PBS safety net if you spend too much in year

Dental

NHS = free (access getting harder and quality sometimes questionable)
Medicare - free only for surgical procedures or people prepared to wait forever and then be accidently killed by a drill. Almost everyone uses private dentists.

Average Life expectancy

NHS = 79.3 years
Medicare = 81.3 years

That's where the little bit of extra money goes

What about seeing the GP? I am yet to find anywhere in Sydney where medicare covers the full GP fee.

Bugger we found a drs that bulk billed in Sydney but I saw so many over there I can't remember where it was - they are about though !

An there was another that told me they'd bulk bill and then tried to charge my husband for my visit there - Glenorie one I think that was, however when my husband said they'd missed diagnosing my heart condition and they'd dismissed my symptoms he asked if they wanted to argue that he pay them and they declined to pursue it.

Perhaps what the OP is asking is what is the cost of prescription drugs through Medicare?

My parents are now considering a move over to Oz and while their Contributory Parent Visa entitles them to Medicare from day one, like the rest of us they will have to pay towards any prescribed medication. They wanted to have an idea of what their medication would cost them, and by using the PBS website you can work it out to the cent.

http://www.pbs.gov.au/html/consumer/search

Type in the name of the drug (note that it may vary from country to country and sometimes it's best to use the generic name instead of a brand name) and find out exactly how much it will cost you.

Also read up on the "Safety Net" scheme. It's basically a threshold amount per family per year which once you exceed, your prescription costs are reduced quite significantly for the remainder of the year.

It's a bit to consume, but all the info is there on the PBS website.

And then when you've finished with the safety net schemes (both PBS and medicare) read the "net medical expenses tax offset" for more money you can get back on your tax.