ok... you've spent countless hours doing the research, you've spent days filling out form after form, and you've spent MONTHS on end waiting (OH the awful waiting) and now you've finally got that wonderful visa!!

Well... here is a little tid bit to help you on the process after you land.

Chances are, you will want to get private medical insurance.

When you get your Medicare Card, KEEP the letter it comes attached to.
A few days later, you will get a letter from the Department of Health and Ageing, KEEP this letter too!!

When you decide what company and what policy you want to purchase, take the time to call them on the phone. They should ask you to fax in a variety of documents; among these are the ones I mentioned above.

You see, you have 12 months from the day you get your Medicare Card to take out a private medical insurance policy without being charged the 2% loading fee. That is 2% of the base policy price for every year you're over 30 years of age. That means that someone who's 40 is paying 20% more than someone who's 30.

BUT!! if you take out private insurance within 12 months of getting your Medicare card, you CAN NOT be charged the 2% per year loading charge. This will save you a LOT of money!!

I hope this will help someone out there and save some money.

Cheers
Marilyn
Victoria

Useful information Marilyn. I took private health cover with medibank within an year of coming to Oz. I am charged with the LHC load (Lifetime Health Cover Loading). When I enquired with Medibank, they asked me to get a Medicare Eligibility Letter from Medicare to get this waived. Seems like this is a standard letter, as I enquired about this at Medicare office, I was given one within a short time stating when I was eligible for Medicare. I have submitted this to Medibank (about a week back) and yet to hear on the waiver...

of course once they agree that you should never have been charged the loading surcharge, your next move is to collect all your statements from when you took out the policy and then calculate how much they over charged you and then to begin the fight to get it back. This will not be easy. It is far easier to do the extra paperwork before taking the policy than to try to get a refund from them.

Best of luck!!!
Marilyn

My wife and I will be emigrating to Perth in the near future. ( We have 103 PR). We are both over 65 could we also avoid the 2% loading fee?

According to immi.gov the 103 visa permits access to Medicare, therefore you should be exempt from the loading charge.

When you go to the Medicare office to register, remember to ask for an eligibility letter while you are there to avoid having to go back. Some Medicare offices are INSANELY busy while others are lucky to see a customer!!

Best of luck!!
Marilyn