Enrol in Medicare
- D. M. Wright
- Dec 16, 2025
- 3 min read
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WHAT IS MEDICARE?
Medicare is Australia’s universal health insurance scheme. It guarantees all Australians (and some overseas visitors) access to a wide range of health and hospital services at low or no cost.
CAN'T FIND YOUR MEDICARE NUMBER?
Contact the Medicare Program on 132 011.
7 days per week.
24 hours per day.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for Medicare, you must:
- be an Australian or New Zealand citizen
- be an Australian permanent resident
- have applied for permanent residency (some conditions apply)
- be a temporary resident covered by a ministerial order
- be a citizen or permanent resident of Norfolk Island, Cocos Islands, Christmas Island or Lord Howe Island.
If you are eligible, you must enrol in Medicare to access benefits.
You may also be eligible if you are visiting from a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement country.
CAN YOU ENROL MORE THAN ONE PERSON?
You can enrol online in Medicare as either an individual or a family through MyGov and track the progress.
To enrol online you and your family members need to:
- live in Australia
- have a current passport or ImmiCard
- have valid visa details from the Department of Home Affairs if you’re not an Australian citizen.
If you want to enrol as a family, you need to provide details and identity documents for any children under 15.
If you want to include someone 15 or older, you need to give that person your application number. They need the number to provide their details and identity documents through their own MyGov account to complete their enrolment.
HOW TO ENROL ONLINE
If you have a MyGov account, you can simply sign in and enrol in Medicare.
If you don’t have a MyGov account you need to create one.
HOW TO ENROL WITH A PRINTED FORM
If you can’t enrol online, complete a Medicare enrolment form.
You can mail or email it with your supporting documents to Medicare Enrolment Services. If you email your forms and documents, include ‘Medicare enrolment’ in the email subject line.
Make sure your documents are:
- in PDF, JPG, PNG, GIF or BMP format
- not password protected, or in a WinZip or RAR file
- no larger than 5MB for each document
- no larger than 10MB in total for all the documents.
If you are enrolling as a family, you’ll need to nominate a contact person for the family Medicare card. Medicare will send Medicare cards and other general information for everyone listed on the card to the contact person.
If you’re the only person listed on the Medicare card, you’ll be the contact person for the card.
You can also get a digital copy of your Medicare card. You’ll need to sign into the Express Plus Medicare mobile app to access it. To use the app, you need a MyGov account linked to your Medicare online account. If you don’t have these, set them up and then download the app.
GETTING YOUR OWN CARD WHEN YOU'RE ALREADY ON YOUR PARENTS' CARD (ONLINE)
If you’re on your parent’s Medicare card, you’re already enrolled. This means you don’t need to re-enrol. When you’re 15, you can get your own Medicare card.
If your Medicare online account is linked to MyGov you can get your own card online.
To do this:
- Sign in to MyGov.
- Select My card.
- Select 'Get a new card and number'.
- Follow the prompts.
GETTING YOUR OWN CARD WHEN YOU'RE ALREADY ON YOUR PARENTS' CARD (OFFLINE FORM)
If you are 15 years or older, the quickest and easiest way to get your own Medicare card or add someone to your card is online (see above instructions).
If you are unable to do it online, download and complete the application (Click HERE) to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another form.
When the transfer or copy is to another person's Medicare card, that cardholder must also sign the form.
The applicant listed as person one on the form needs to send in both:
- the completed form, signed by all those listed who are 15 years of age or older
- their own identification.
You can send in your form and supporting documents using the email address and postal address on the bottom of the form.
To help Medicare process your request, please include copy or transfer in the subject line.
You don’t need to get your supporting documents certified.
REFERENCES
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