Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) - Medicare Australia

MikeMacca

Im going to Perth in March on a WHV. Currently, i am on medication for Arthiritis which means i have to self inject once a week. over here it is covered under the drugs payment scheme

Question is, i have researched what i need going over from my own specialist and GP here in Ireland but what are the circumstances of being covered under the PBS in Australia. do you have to be in full time employment?will the WHV cover you?
I am going to Australia strictly to work

Thanks in advance

mel.b

AFAIK (am i'm open to correction!) there is a reciprocal health arrangment between Ireland and Australia, so (even on a WHV) you are entitled to medicare and thus the PBS. Just make sure you register at a local medicare office. Your arthritis medication is probably covered by the PBS meaning it is subsidised, so you will only have to pay a contribution towards the cost (varies depending on the medication)

horse7

Here is a good link http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/ireland-nz.jsp will be interested to know if your irish prescription will suffice or you may have to go to an ozzi gp, also the medcine would have to be on their list. I know its 132euro a month here for medication,so i wonder what the cost is in ozzi. Quite a good question ,as i didnt know we had a reciprocal agreement .

mel.b

Here is a good link, that includes a list of all medications covered under the PBS. Note that you will need an Australian prescription to get it filled at a pharmacy in Oz.

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/travelling-to-australia.jsp

There is also a PBS 'safety net' which is like the 132euro monthly 'limit' here. See attached doc...

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/services/scripts/pbs.jsp

Basically if your medication is under the PBS it should cost no more than $35.40 per medication. Then if you spend more than $1363.30 in the year, the remainder of your scripts will cost only $5.80

I presume the PBS safety net also applies under the reciprocal health care agreeement.

HTH,
mel.b

mandrake04

The reciprocal between Ireland and Australia is Hospital treatment and PBS only, you are not entitled to Medicare or a Medicare card so any Doctors visits for prescriptions will be fully funded out of your own pocket.

I think for the PBS agreement you can get a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement Card from Medicare or just show your passport at the Pharmacy

Cooperspale

<The reciprocal between Ireland and Australia is Hospital treatment and PBS only, you are not entitled to Medicare or a Medicare card so any Doctors visits for prescriptions will be fully funded out of your own pocket.

I think for the PBS agreement you can get a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement Card from Medicare or just show your passport at the Pharmacy>

As Mandrake said above except you don't actually get a card. You present your passport in a hospital or pharmacy and the reciprocal agreement is validated.

Irish prescriptions are not accepted outside of the EU.

If its the medicine I'm thinking of, you first see a GP in Australia who will then give you a referral to a specialist. The specialist is the only person with the authority to prescribe these high cost medicines.
Provided the medicine is covered on PBS, it will cost $35.40 per item.
You will need to budget for Dr and specialist fees, 50-70$ and 100-400$.

mel.b

mandrake04 wrote: »

The reciprocal between Ireland and Australia is Hospital treatment and PBS only, you are not entitled to Medicare or a Medicare card so any Doctors visits for prescriptions will be fully funded out of your own pocket.

Thanks for that Mandrake - I wasn't aware that medicare wasn't included. Before I moved to Ireland, I worked for an organisation in Sydney that provided packages for WHV and I used to take the people to the medicare office for them to register - although weren't any Irish - mostly from the Netherlands so maybe there is a different arrangement for them or it's changed (this is going back at least 8 years now!)

Mellor

mel.b wrote: »

Thanks for that Mandrake - I wasn't aware that medicare wasn't included. Before I moved to Ireland, I worked for an organisation in Sydney that provided packages for WHV and I used to take the people to the medicare office for them to register - although weren't any Irish - mostly from the Netherlands so maybe there is a different arrangement for them or it's changed (this is going back at least 8 years now!)

The reciprocal agreement is between individual countries and Australia. So the terms of each can vary. Ireland's agrement is, as stated, free emergency health care and PBS on production of a passport. Countires like the UK (and I assume the Netherlands) get medicare, but they must register with Medicare.

If you are a resident the north of ireland, on a UK OR an irish passoirt, you qualify for medicare.

Cooperspale

Mellor wrote: »

The reciprocal agreement is between individual countries and Australia. So the terms of each can vary. Ireland's agrement is, as stated, free emergency health care and PBS on production of a passport. Countires like the UK (and I assume the Netherlands) get medicare, but they must register with Medicare.

If you are a resident the north of ireland, on a UK OR an irish passoirt, you qualify for medicare.

Those individual countries are
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/uk.jsp

Whereas Ireland are in a different group with the kiwis
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/ireland-nz.jsp

Mellor

Cooperspale wrote: »

Those individual countries are
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/uk.jsp

Whereas Ireland are in a different group with the kiwis
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/ireland-nz.jsp

The Kiwi gets emergency treatment with a passport, the same as we do. But they are also entitled to medicare under the standard medicare entitlements if they register. That's why its not covered on thier recipricol agreement.

It kinda annoyed me that we are singled out in terms of the recipricol. But at the same time, many countries have no agreement.

MikeMacca

thanks for all the helpful answers. i did my homework a few months ago regarding what i need from my own specialist here to provide to a rheumatologist in Perth. my injections are Enbrl which is on the list of medicines thankfully so i think my course of action is to contact a rheumatologist upon arriving and take it from there

also, the disparity between 132 euros and 35 dollars for the same presciption, wow :eek:

horse7

I get HUMERA (high tec med)once a month under the drugs refund scheme,could i get 3 months supply in advance if i was in australia for 3 months,or would i have to see a gp in australia,get referred to a rhumatologist and have my injections prescribed?

Cooperspale

horse7 wrote: »

I get HUMERA (high tec med)once a month under the drugs refund scheme,could i get 3 months supply in advance if i was in australia for 3 months,or would i have to see a gp in australia,get referred to a rhumatologist and have my injections prescribed?

Will pm you on this

mandrake04

Cooperspale wrote: »

As Mandrake said above except you don't actually get a card. You present your passport in a hospital or pharmacy and the reciprocal agreement is validated.

I actually double checked this as I knew I had read it somewhere, it might be a case of going into medicare and asking.

Overseas visitors from countries with which Australia has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) are also eligible to access the Scheme. Australia currently has RHCAs with the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Slovenia.

Residents of these countries must show their passports when lodging a prescription to prove their eligibility or they can contact Medicare and get a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement Card to prove their eligibility. Some overseas visitors may not be eligible for this card.

http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/about-the-pbs

Cooperspale

Yup.
Most are, Irish aren't .

mandrake04

That's a bummer no Medicare card and not even RHCA card, when you go to hospitial on the recipricol do you have to bring your own blankets?

tractortom74

mandrake04 wrote: »

That's a bummer no Medicare card and not even RHCA card, when you go to hospitial on the recipricol do you have to bring your own blankets?

I looked into this aspect myself. My understanding is, that if you are going over to Australia to work, you MUST take out private health insurance.
and that you will NOT be covered under the Medicare system.
Unlike here where its pretty much a free for all.:rolleyes:
I have yet to look into the costs of same for a family of 4, but obviously it makes sence that the Ozzy government dont want a burden on their system with a heap of expats and the like. Pity Ireland did'nt do the same thing, maybe we would'nt be in the state we are in with our health service.
We are looking at heading to Perth in the coming months, and because we have 2 kids, obviously we dont want to be stuck without anything in case anything should happen.

Maybe try and get quotes for this on line if its going to be a long term stay in Oz.