malden

Both myself and my partner have recently been offered jobs in Melbourne with sponsorship for a 457 visa. About 1 year ago i was diagnosed with diabetes which is tablet and diet controlled although I am expected to have to go on to insulin at some unknown time in the future. However, by blood sugar levels are pretty well controlled and my last HB1Ac was normal (5.3 i think). I have had a look though previous posts and I don't think this will be a problem in obtaining a visa.

But what I am unsure about, is what I will receive under the Medicare reciprocal agreements. I have spoken to Medicare and been given different information each time so was hoping to hear about anyone else's experiences. I know it will not be all free as it is for me here in the UK but do i need to be looking at private insurance - although private insurance won't cover any pre-existing conditions for the first 12 months.

Thanks in advance,
C

Seachanger

One of my children has Type 1 diabetes and our experience is that this is covered under the reciprocal Medicare arrangements. This includes quarterly clinic appointments with the paediatrician and diabetic nurses (as in the UK), reviews with the GP and regular screening checks. The prescriptions aren't free, but the costs are subsidised under the pharmaceutical benefits scheme and there is also something called the National Diabetes Supply Scheme which allows you (once you're signed up) to purchase subsidised testing strips, needles etc through specific pharmacies without a prescription. Under this scheme the testing strips cost less than half of the prescription cost.

Our starting point when we arrived was to visit a local GP who then made a referral to the consultant and since then it has all worked very smoothly. All in all we haven't noticed much difference between the service from the NHS and under the reciprocal Medicare arrangements, but perhaps we have just been lucky.

The advantage of health insurance would be that after the waiting period you would get to pick and choose the consultant and it would also cover the cost of insulin pumps, which aren't covered under Medicare.