Health coverage for Australian visa holders

Filipina lady in Australia on an Australian visa. What if she gets sick? Is she covered? Are YOU covered?

At Down Under Visa we strongly advise that all holders of Australian temporary visas, especially tourist visas and prospective marriage visas have health insurance coverage with either travel insurance or overseas visitor health coverage to pay for unexpected medical expenses while they are visiting Australia. Medicare does not cover the costs of medical treatment in Australia for non-residents such as tourist visa holders, and the cost of medical treatment in Australia can be very high.

http://www.downundervisa.com.au/2016/08/23/health-coverage-australian-visa-holders/

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Australian visa applications and health insurance

It isn’t a “requirement” for a visa applicant from Philippines to Australia to have health insurance coverage. For some visa applications it is, but for visitor visas and partner visas it is not! It should be! We recommend that all applicants do organise this to prevent tragedies happening. And we will continue to recommend overseas visitor health coverage for this reason.

Travel insurance

Travel insurance will normally cover medical treatments for conditions which are not pre-existing. They will also cover lost baggage, cameras getting smashed, phones getting stolen, cancelled flights, etc. Generally not a bad option, but can be excessively expensive for stays of 3 months or more.

Overseas visitor health coverage

Overseas visitor health insurance covers medical treatments only. Some will cover hospital treatment only, leaving you to pay for for visiting the GP etc in order to keep costs down. These are offered by health insurance companies, like BUPA, MBF, HCF, etc.

Good protection and peace of mind for any stays in Australia, whether on a visitor visa for 3 or 6 months or longer, or for prospective marriage visas when there is no coverage from Medicare.

Is health coverage always necessary?

Well, being-covered is necessary unless you like playing Russian roulette with your Filipina lady’s health and life! This means tourist visas and prospective marriage visa applications.

Exceptions are:

• Subclass 309 offshore partner visas applied-for in Manila

• Subclass 820 onshore partner visas applied-for in Australia (either for Prospective marriage visa holders who’ve married and applied for the next stage, or those who simply marry in Australia and apply for partner visas)

Once you apply for an 820 in Australia, or once you arrive in Australia with a Subclass 309 partner visa, you may apply for Medicare and enjoy the same safety net as any Australian can. (Note that Medicare counter staff are not always well-informed and not always helpful. Be prepared to go to a different office if you get no sense from them.)

But if you don’t have these visas, then you need to get health insurance or you take a terrible risk. We had a client contact us once because his Filipina lady had acute appendicitis in Australia while she was there on a tourist visa. He contacted me asking if he could organise health insurance for her at that stage, or if he should call Medicare. I told him he should get her to the hospital before she died on him!

Health insurance is never retrospective. It works forward and not backward. And note that it doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions. Medicare does, but it’s different. We’ve had quite a few client babies born in Australia on hastily-acquired Medicare cards. But don’t expect to arrive in Australia with a big belly and think that MBF will be much help. It’s not only pre-existing, but that know what causes pregnancy these days!