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Medicare rebates

A rebate pays part of an eligible treatment fee. Ask your practice whether you qualify and what you will pay.

Electronic claiming through Praxi is awaiting Services Australia approval. Your practice can explain how it currently lodges claims.

Before your appointment​

  • Give your practice your Medicare card details, expiry date and IRN — the individual reference number beside your name on the card.
  • Provide a current referral and a valid treatment plan, where required. A mental health treatment plan is not a referral.
  • Tell your practice when your card, referral or personal details change. Update your rebate bank details with Medicare directly.

Better Access allows eligible people up to 10 individual and 10 group treatment services per calendar year, across providers. Further referrals may be needed. Other Medicare programs have different rules.

Since 1 November 2025, Better Access plans, reviews and referrals from a GP or prescribed medical practitioner must come from your MyMedicare registered practice or usual medical practitioner. Eligible psychiatrists and paediatricians can also refer you directly. Ask your GP or other referrer which applies. Unused referral services can carry into the next year, counting towards its limit.

See the government's Better Access guidance.

Bulk billing and your agreement​

Bulk billing means no charge to you for that service. You agree to let the practitioner receive your Medicare benefit as full payment. This is called assignment of benefit, often recorded on a DB4 agreement, separate from consent to treatment. Check the details before agreeing.

You may sign in person or accept digitally by typing your name or ticking acceptance in the portal or a secure link your practice provides. This must identify you and record agreement. Verbal agreement is also allowed until 30 June 2027 under transition arrangements; your practice must explain and record it.

You must be offered a paper or digital copy. Ask your practice for your copy or an explanation of anything you do not understand. See Services Australia's assignment guidance.

Paying a fee and claiming a rebate​

  • Fully paid means you have paid the whole treatment fee, including any gap, before the claim is lodged. Medicare pays the rebate to the bank account registered with Medicare for the person claiming. The gap is the fee less the rebate; Medicare does not refund the whole fee.
  • Partly paid or unpaid means some or all of the fee is still owing. Medicare may send you a cheque payable to the practitioner. Give it to your practice; you cannot keep it. Ask what balance you still owe.

If Medicare has no valid bank details for a fully paid claim, the claim may be assessed without payment reaching you. Update them through Medicare online, by calling Medicare or at a service centre, then ask Medicare about payment. Portal payment-card details do not update Medicare.

Keep your receipt and claim advice. Ask your practice before lodging the same claim yourself, to avoid a duplicate.

Finding your claim​

On the web portal, open More → Medicare claims for status, benefit and gap amounts. On iPhone, open More → Medicare (or Medicare & NDIS) and find Claims. Amounts appear when available. Submitted does not mean money has reached your bank.

Billing (Billing & funding under More on the web) shows invoices, payments and outstanding amounts. If an option, claim or amount is missing, ask your practice. Claims lodged elsewhere may not appear.

Privacy and problems​

To check eligibility and assess a claim, your practice sends Services Australia your identifying and Medicare details, practitioner and referral details, and the treatment date, item and fee. Required information is needed to process your claim. Ask your practice what it sends; see Services Australia's privacy information.

For a rejected claim, wrong amount or delayed rebate, contact your practice through Messages or by phone. They can check the reason and next steps. Contact Medicare about bank details or a payment it issued. Ask your practice about fee refunds, which are separate from rebates.

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