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Medicare Safety Net

How the Medicare Safety Net lowers your out-of-pocket costs once you or your family reach a yearly threshold, and how to register.

The Medicare Safety Net is an Australian Government program. It helps once you have spent a certain amount in a calendar year on medical services covered by Medicare. It is designed to protect individuals and families from very high medical costs in a single year.

How it works

  1. Your costs add up. Each time you have a Medicare-covered service out of hospital, such as a GP visit, a specialist appointment or some tests, any out-of-pocket cost is tracked by Medicare.
  2. You reach a threshold. Once you, or your family combined, have spent more than a set amount in the calendar year, you have reached the Safety Net.
  3. You get more back. For the rest of that calendar year, Medicare pays a higher rebate for eligible services, so they cost you less.
  4. It starts again on 1 January. The count resets at the start of each calendar year.

Different thresholds

There are two Safety Nets, the Original and the Extended, and each has its own threshold. Concession card holders and families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A have a lower threshold for the Extended Safety Net. The amounts change every year, and some services have a cap on how much extra Medicare will pay. Services Australia publishes the current figures.

Do I need to register?

  • If you are single with no dependants, you don’t need to register. Medicare tracks your costs automatically.
  • If you are part of a couple or a family, you need to register, even if you are already on the same Medicare card. Registering lets Medicare combine everyone’s costs so you reach the threshold sooner.

You can register through your Medicare online account in myGov, the Express Plus Medicare app, or by calling Medicare.

What this means at The Village

As a private-billing practice, the gap between our fee and the Medicare rebate is an out-of-pocket cost. It counts towards the Extended Medicare Safety Net. Once you reach your threshold, your rebates for eligible visits go up. You can read more about our fees and why we charge them on the fees page.

Find out more

Visit the Medicare Safety Nets page on the Services Australia website to check the current thresholds and register.