ianandhelena

I know there are several posts around on here that state that once you apply for PR whilst in Aus on a temporary visa you are then entitled to full Medicare benefits. Reading the Health Ins Act 1973 this seems to be true.

Has anyone succeeded in actually getting this entitlement-my local medicare office and the phone enquiry service both maintain that you actually need a PR visa grant before your entitlement changes.
If you succeeded, how did you convince them?

NickyP

The only difference in reality between the medicare cover that we had on our 457 and what we have on PR was the eye tests and dental treatment. I assume that had the dental treatment been deemed an emergency then this would also have been covered but we never needed the dental side of things so didn't find out about it. We wouldn't have bothered with the private cover had we not got 4 kids and had it not been included in Ian's wages as the medicare cover was sufficient for most things. We now have the same medicare number but with a 2 at the end instead of a 1 and it doesn't really seem to have affected much.
Nicky

chels

We had some difficulties switching to full entitlements when we applied for PR when on a 457 - the woman in the Medicare office wouldn't believe me when I said we were entitled to full medicare benefits, and this was despite me showing her one of Medicare's own leaflets that said we were...(their general information leaflet mentions eligibility when applying for PR).

The matter was referred on to their head office, and after about a month they sent us a new medicare card - this time, it says 'interim' rather recipricol health care agreement (as I think the old one said). I expect that now we have PR, we could get another one this time saying we are entitled to medicare until --.

What I did establish with them was that while our case was being assessed, if we did have any medical expenses we should save all the receipts and then claim the money back retrospectively, as we would be fully covered from the date we first applied for full medicare benefits.

For me, it was important to get this sorted as I was having a whole load of tests at the time and I wanted to be sure I could claim some of it back on medicare (especially as the tests arose from my medical for PR!). They may have been covered by RHCA medicare, but I couldn't establish for certain if they would be or not, and in the end it wasn't too difficult a process.

Luma

Take a look at page 1
Am I eligible to enrol?
Applied for certain permanent resident visas

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/...ligibility.pdf


I guess it depends on the type of permanent resident visa one applies for.

andrew63

We were in that position and had no problem.
Under 457 we were not entitled to reciprical agreement
As soon as we applied for PR, we got a receipt/confirmation letter from DIMA. Took that to Medicare office who gave us a "temporary" blue medicare card.
Once we got PR, had our passports stamped, took them into mediacre and they gave us the proper green medicare cards

Andrew

NickyP

I suppose that it was a non issue for us as the reciprical agreement covered us on our 457 so we just waited until we got the stamp in our passports and dealt with it all then. We found that the difference between the 2 levels of cover wasn't really a big thing.
Nicky

JAJ

Insist on speaking to a manager/supervisor if the front-line staff don't understand the law.

If that doesn't work, make a complaint directly to head office. You could also complain to your federal MP (and ask him or her to raise the issue with the Minister's office), alternatively maybe the Commonwealth Ombudsman could help.

ianandhelena

Thanks to everyone for your help-I'll try again tomorrrow armed with more facts from your contributions.

ianandhelena

the problem is that we can't get hospital cover from a health fund and receive the federal rebate until we have full medicare entitlement, and until we can get hospital cover we remain liable for the medicare surcharge.

NickyP

Ian's company funded an inpatriate health cover while we were on our 457 so that wasn't an issue. But friends of ours are having similar problems as he is a doctor and can't apply for PR until he has been in job for 2 years.
Good luck
Nicky

JAJ

Why not? Is he trained in the UK or somewhere else?

NickyP

UK and he is here on a temp. visa which states that after he has been here 2 years the medical board in Victoria have the choice to let him stay permanently or send him home. Not much fun with a family . As they are in an area of need and it took 5 years to fill his currentl post they are hopeful that they will get to stay however they were refused the permenant post in NSW last time they came over, it all depends on the political climate of the time.
Their 2 years is up at the end of this year so we are keeping our fingers crossed for them.
Nicky

ianandhelena

Have just spent an hour in the medicare office and finally managed to convince them that as an applicant for PR visa we are entitled to full medicare benefits. We will be issued with a 12 month interim card.
A big problem was that as a 134 applicant we only pay on visa grant so we didn't have a receipt, but they eventually accepted our email ack letter.
Thanks to everyone for your help.

JAJ

They put doctors on the Skilled Occupations List and Migration Occupations in Demand List in May 2004. Since then, it's possible for doctors to get permanent residence independently of employer.

Have they thought of looking to see if you can get a skill assessment from the Australian Medical Council, or whether their state registration is enough to qualify? Although there's little specific information online, I thought that United Kingdom trained doctors had a good chance of qualifying.

Better to ask on the immigration forum. Professional advice is a good idea, however only a small minority of agents will know anything about this.

Some links:
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/medi...a04/v04075.htm
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/medic...rs/doctors.htm
http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au

NickyP

Thanks for that I will pass the info on. I had spoken to them about trying for PR as they are on the skilled occupation list now (must have gone on just after they got here ). However they have decided to continue through the system at the moment as the local health trust are paying for an agent to do the work for them. If they get refused then they will start the process on their own as they have got the Australian medical council skills assessment OK it is just the state medical board that are the potential stumbling block (and they have been know to refuse people regardless of local need).
Nothing is ever as straightforward as it initially appears over here and it is always worse when you have to get through both state and federal government rules . I will point them in the direction of the immigration forum should they need any more help.
Nicky