Single Mother Financial Support Links
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Health Care Financial Support
Medicare is Australia’s universal health care system introduced in 1984 to provide eligible Australian residents with affordable, accessible and high-quality health care.
Medicare provides access to:
- free treatment as a public (Medicare) patient in a public hospital, and
- free or subsidised treatment by medical practitioners including general practitioners, specialists, participating optometrists or dentists (for specified services only)
 | Medicare – Safety Net The Medicare Safety Net provides families and individuals with financial assistance for high out-of-pocket costs for out-of-hospital Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) services. Once you meet a Medicare Safety Net threshold, you may be eligible for additional Medicare benefits for out-of-hospital MBS services for the rest of the calendar year. Also available is the PBS Safety Net if you and your family need a lot of medicines in any year Medicare Safety Net Concession ThresholdThe EMSN concession threshold is for concession cardholders. Medicare Australia will pay 80 per cent of the out-of-pocket costs or the EMSN benefit cap for MBS services provided out-of-hospital after a threshold of $562.90 per family or individual per calendar year is reached. Eligible concession cards are those issued by Centrelink or the Department of Veterans Affairs, including Health care cards and Pensioner cards |
| Medicare – PBS Safety Net If you or your family need a lot of medicines in a year, the Safety Net helps you with the cost of your medicines. Once you or your family reach a Safety Net threshold, you can apply for a PBS Safety Net card then your PBS medicine will be less expensive or free for the rest of the calendar year What do I need to do?You need to keep a record of your PBS medicine on a Prescription Record Form (PRF), which you can get from your pharmacy. Each time you have a PBS medicine supplied, give the form to the pharmacist so it can be recorded. Your phamacist might be able to keep a computer record for you, but if they can’t or if you visit different pharmacies, its best to keep your own records. If you have a family, ask your pharmacist about combining the amounts recorded for your family Safety Net total PBS Safety Net thresholds General patients PBS Safety Net threshold – $1281.30 Concession card holders PBS Safety Net threshold – $324.00 For more detailed information, please go to http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au |
 | Centrelink – Health Care Card Health Care Card entitles you to cheaper medicines and some other concessions. You may be eligible for a Health Care Card if you are below age pension age and you get any of these payments: Carer Allowance/Payment Family Tax Benefit Part A (maximum rate only) Newstart Allowance and more… http://www.centrelink.gov.au |
| Centrelink – Maternity Immunisation Allowance Maternity Immunisation Allowance is a non-income tested payment to encourage parents to immunise their children http://www.centrelink.gov.au |
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