See a Doctor for Free

The Australian Government has signed Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Malta and Italy which entitles you to limited subsidised health services for immediately necessary treatment while visiting Australia.

Backpackers of these countries are entitles to what we in Australia call a Medicare card.

With a Medicare card you are entitled to claim back the fee charged by the doctor. The only problem is most doctors in Australia charge about $15 over the Medicare rebate. So if the rebate is $30, doctors usually charge $45. You then take the receipt into a Medicare office and you will receive your rebate. There are doctors in Australia that bulk bill. That is the name we call it when a doctor charges the rebate amount but there are not many doctor these days in Australia that do this. All government run hospitals bulk bill but the waiting time is usually long and if they are busy they only accept emergency cases.

The Royal Cairns Hospital is an example of this.

Another Medical Surgery that bulk bill.

Cairns Central Medical

Cairns Central Shopping Centre situated opposite Coles inside the Chemist.

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