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1. Am i right in saying, thers no monthly set amount of money paid by each person for health care, but you pay the varied amount when you visit the doctor etc ?

2. Appart from the income tax from the wages, is there a version of National insurance taken from the wages or is it just the tax?

many thanks in advance
jason

No, there is 1% medicare levy taken out at each pay. If you earn over the thresholds you pay another 1.5% surcharge at the end of the year in your tax return unless you take out private hospital insurance - then you are exempt from the extra 1.5% surcharge. Next years income threshold before you have to pay the extra 1.5% is $80,000 for a single or $160,000 for a couple.

Public medicare very roughly gets you:
- free public hospitals.
- free public specialists at the hospital outpatients clinic.
- free or subsidised GP's. 80% of visits australia wide are totally free but some cities have far better access to free GP's than others. "Bulk billing" is the phrase used for "free" in Australia. The gap GP's charge can vary. Typically the gap might be $10-$40 for a standard consultation.

Note that many people go to private specialists where you only get some money back from the public system.

Just tax and the 1% mentioned above. An additional 9% (or more) is paid on top of your salary into a private pension fund of your choosing but this is not part of your salary - it is on top of your salary, not included in your taxable income, and paid by your employer directly to the pension fund. When a salary is quoted be sure to check whether they are quoting it with the 9% to make it look bigger.

Brilliant thanks

Oops...please swap the 1% and 1.5% around in my post above. Medicare Levy 1.5% and surcharge 1%.