Dont be ...

We were, after reading some of the things said on here but i have to say we have found it nothing short of excellent and have not had to fork out a cent.

We took out daugther to the doctors yesterday and she was sent for xrays and blood tests .. no waiting around .. all tests done immediatly and the staff were brilliant .. putting both my daughter (2) and my wife at ease

The doctors, queensland xray and s & n pathology all bulk bill so this is why we didn't have to pay even tho we are on a temp visa but the the fact that we were seen straight away and everyone was so nice meant it was a better service than what we'd have had in the uk

so i dont see what the worry was for really ..

Same here, we are also on 457 visas been to doctors heaps of times and used medicare- didnt cost me anything as bulk billing and also went to hospital when I hurt my leg and all sorted....hospital was rubbish though, waiting ages etc...but no different to England hospitals A&E.....

Laura
x

but legally you still have to have private health cover

We are coming over on a 457 visa (soon I hope) and we were worried about the cost of health care and school fees. We phoned someone at the South Western Development Agency and asked about the 457 visa as we had read some of the threads and we were concerned. We were told not to believe everything we hear or read and we would not have to pay for doctors or schools.

I dont think this is true, we dont have cover and immigration have not told us we need it

surely it would be a condition on the visa ...

we had a condition on ours that we had to report to immigration within 30 days to get our stamp .. i'm sure they would want proof if it was mandatory

yea same here, although I think that the company who sponsored us give us private healthcare, but I wouldnt have a clue how to use it and have never bothered to look into it as just used the medicare card I was issued with. Surely they wouldnt issue you with a medicare card if you needed private health care and there was never a mention of this on the visa....

I'm not familiar with the 457 but on the 461 many imigration agents say you do need healthcare, the form has a check box "will you have private healthcare yes/no" and DIMIA said face to face to me that I won't need at as the UK and AUS have a reciprical agreement.



Cheers

Buzzy

I am really confused now. We are coming to Sydney on a 457 visa and we have managed to wrangle the company to pay for the families private medical insurance. I didn't think we would even be issued with a medicare card but from the sounds of it 457 visa holders are issued with this card. Is that right? Also re school fees I am pretty certain that we would have to pay for them since we are in NSW. Anyone any experience of this??
Thanks for all your replies!

We're in WA and are caught up in the medical system right now as dh has ruptured a disc.

We are on a 457 and have healthcare provided by dh's company through Medibank Private.

About seven weeks after arrival, I had a dental crisis and had a $300 bill. Dentist said I could claim on the Medibank policy but it was turned down for being inside the waiver period. I could claim from the Medibank private for homoeopathic treatment here, but as it is in respect of an ongoing condition from the UK it would be treated as pre-existing and therefore be excluded.

We applied for, and now have, our Medicare cards. Dh had to see a GP about his back. He paid $79 for the consultation and got $59 back from Medicare. He was covered by Medicare for the $205 that he paid for his CT scan - got that back in full. He had an appointment with a consultant neurosurgeon yesterday that cost $115 and he had to find about a third of that - got the rest back from Medicare. He asked about claiming this fee back from Medibank Private as it was a private referral from the GP but was told that Medibank Private will only cover conditions for which hospitalisation is necessary.

In short - Medicare will help substantially towards medical costs, although some contribution is likely, especially if your doctor isn't a bulk biller. Private healthcare might well be provided by an employer on a 457, but in our experience it's potentially difficult to collect on and may well be rather restrictive.

I understand that employers will contract to pay NSW school fees while on a 457 - originally we considered staying in Sydney, so found out about that. However in WA there are no school fees so it's a moot point for us.

HTH.

Sue

There is no requirement for a sponsor to give his 457 visa holder private health cover but there is an undertaking he has to make that he will meet any medical costs not covered by a reciprocal agreement.

I have attached the statement given to me by Medicare which explains it covers "emergency" treatment only. This was for the British reciprocal agreement so I don't know if other countries agreements are different.

DIMIA booklet 11, pages 12 & 13 under heading "sponsorship undertakings" covers this point.

To sponsor someone for a 457 the employer has to complete DIMIA form 1196. On this form Section 30 (page 9) covers Sponsors Undertakings and he has to sign this section to confirm acceptance of those conditions.

So quite clearly the sponsor signs an undertaking that he will pay the costs.

Providing private healthcare cover is one way of meeting the undertaking but that is not actually specified. It just says they have to pay the costs of treatment.

My employer gave me Medibank cover which as others found was useless due to the qualifying times for various treatments but Medicare covered them all. For a family of 4 it costs about 300 bucks a month and was never used.

Some employers avoid the costs by writing into peoples contracts that they are responsible for their own health cover. That is acting against the DIMIA instructions so is in fact quite unscrupulous. Do you trust such an employer ?
What will he do next to circumvent his obligations ? Reduce your wage after you get here ?

On the point of education the cost is different for the states. Some charge, some don't. If you are going to a state that charges it is something you could try to negotiate with your sponsor as is of course salary sacrifice and LAFHA.

Just one small point. You don't get given a Medicare card you have to apply for it.

Any further info on this Buzzy? We have been told today the reciprocal is very limited coverage - does not cover alot of things. With private medical we are having to get to policies one for me and C (familyA$129) and one for the wife (visitors A$157). (both per month with A$500 excess).

Kiwi

I think it depends what passport you show them. From memory the cover on offer to Kiwis is not as good as the cover to British people as the reciprical cover for Ozzies in NZ is not as good as for Ozzies in the UK. I am unaware what the reciprical arrangements with Singapore / Malaysia are.

I haven't got any further info on this myself, sorry.



Buzzy

The NZ is full medicare. But the problem is with the wife which you might find as well - they are treating her as travelling on a UK passport.

When you go to say Iselect (who are brilliant) they can't get us all on one policy so I will have to pull my finger out and get the PR sorted.

Kiwi

We are here on a 457 visa - a family of 2 adults and 2 kids, in Melbourne. We are in our 7th month and as yet havent really found our private medical insurance worth while (and it costs us $350 per month excluding my partners cover which is paid my his employers as a condition of his 457 visa).

All our visits to the doctor so far have been covered by Medicare reciprocal agreement, prescriptions (as in the uK) are paid for but we cant claim under our insurance because of the $29.50 excess - and thats per item, and nothing has cost that much (or items are on the list of free items as stated by the government).

We can claim on our insurance for dentist check up , but this was only $35.00 per person. However my son needed and xray and this and the following consultation was covered under Medicare.

Eye sight tests - we are all covered under Medicare (adults too) - better than the UK. and we only get a percentage back from our private insurance.

Although luckily I havent experienced it, I also understand that under Medicare you get similar hospital treatment as in the UK under national health.

So... is private health insurance worth it. We are definitely re-assessing what we have but its up to everyone to decide for themselves.

Hope that helps
J