Whether you can use Australia's public health system depends entirely on your passport. Some nationalities get Medicare through a reciprocal agreement. Everyone else pays full price for everything unless they're insured. This guide explains who gets what, how to enrol, what's not covered, and what to do when you're sick.
If you're from one of the 11 reciprocal agreement countries (including the UK, Ireland and several European countries), enrol in Medicare through Services Australia soon after arriving. It covers medically necessary care. If you're not from one of those countries, you have no public cover at all, and travel or health insurance is essential. Either way, nobody is covered for ambulance, dental or being flown home.
Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (RHCAs) with 11 countries. In plain terms: your country treats visiting Australians in its public health system, so Australia returns the favour. An RHCA gives you access to Medicare, Australia's public health system, for care that is medically necessary. That means treatment for an illness or injury that can't wait until you get home. It is not full Medicare, and it is not a substitute for insurance, but it removes the biggest financial risk: a public hospital emergency.
| Your passport | Medicare via RHCA? |
|---|---|
| UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden | Yes |
| Italy, Malta | Yes, but limited to 6 months from arrival |
| Canada, USA, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, all other 462 countries | No, travel insurance essential |
You can enrol in Medicare if you're a citizen of one of the 11 reciprocal-agreement countries above. Cover for Italian and Maltese citizens is limited to six months from the day you arrive (Services Australia country pages, verified June 2026).
Every other nationality has no Medicare access. If that's you, the insurance section below matters more than anything else on this page.
Enrol after you arrive, through Services Australia:
Enrolment is free. Do it before you need it, not in a waiting room. One useful detail: if you're treated before you've enrolled, you may still be able to claim a Medicare benefit for that treatment once you enrol (Services Australia).
| Care | What you pay under an RHCA |
|---|---|
| Public hospital, medically necessary | Nothing, as a public patient |
| GP visit | Medicare rebate; bulk-billing clinics are free, others charge a gap |
| Prescriptions (PBS) | The subsidised price |
Without Medicare, you pay the full private cost of all healthcare: roughly $80 to $120 upfront for a standard GP visit (indicative, third-party estimates), full price for medicines, and full hospital rates, which can run to thousands of dollars a day. Insurance isn't listed as a grant condition in the official 417 and 462 eligibility criteria, but the Department of Home Affairs expects you to be able to cover your own health costs, and in practice going uninsured is the single biggest financial risk of your trip. (WHE Verification Tracker, verified June 2026.)
What to look for in a policy: medical treatment and hospitalisation in Australia, ambulance, repatriation, and cover that matches your full stay including any second-year extension. If you'll do farm or construction work, check work-related injuries on the type of work you'll do aren't excluded; many cheap travel policies exclude manual labour. Insurers offering long-stay policies built around working holidays include SafetyWing and Cover-More, and both can be bought from abroad or extended mid-trip. Compare what's excluded, not just the price.
One protection you do have regardless of insurance: every Australian employer must hold workers' compensation insurance, and it covers workers injured through their work whatever their visa status (Safe Work Australia). It applies only to work-related injury and illness, so it doesn't replace health cover for everything else.
For anything non-urgent, you see a GP (general practitioner) at a local medical centre. No registration required; book online (HotDoc and HealthEngine are the common apps) or walk in. With a Medicare card, ask for a bulk-billing practice and you'll pay nothing. Without one, you pay upfront and claim from your insurer.
For advice when you're not sure how serious something is, healthdirect is the government's free 24/7 nurse helpline: 1800 022 222 (healthdirect.gov.au, verified June 2026).
After-hours and urgent-but-not-emergency: many cities have urgent care clinics and home-visit doctor services. Pharmacists can also advise on minor ailments and provide some treatments.
Call 000 for ambulance, fire or police (112 also works from mobiles). In a genuine emergency go straight to a public hospital emergency department. Treatment for RHCA visitors is covered as a public patient. Non-RHCA visitors will be billed, which is exactly what your insurance is for; keep every document for the claim. (WHE Verification Tracker, verified June 2026.)
Sources: servicesaustralia.gov.au · immi.homeaffairs.gov.au · safeworkaustralia.gov.au · healthdirect.gov.au. Last verified 2026-06-11.