Editing Medicare (Australia) (section)

==Eligibility==
The following groups of people have access to fully-covered health care in public hospitals via the Medicare system:<ref>{{cite web |date=26 May 2022 |title=Enrolling in Medicare |url=https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/enrolling-medicare?context=60092 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713090627/https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/enrolling-medicare?context=60092 |archive-date=13 July 2022 |access-date=13 July 2022 |website=Services Australia}}</ref>
* [[Australian citizen]]s
* [[New Zealand citizen]]s who have lived in Australia for six months or more over the previous year
* [[Permanent resident]]s
* People who have applied for permanent residence
* [[Temporary resident]]s covered by a ministerial order
* Citizens or permanent residents of:
**[[Norfolk Island]]
**[[Cocos (Keeling) Islands]]
**[[Christmas Island]]
**[[Lord Howe Island]]

===Reciprocal agreements===
International visitors from 11 countries have subsidised access to medically necessary treatment under reciprocal agreements. Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (RHCA) are in place with the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, Malta, Italy, Republic of Ireland, and New Zealand, which entitles visitors from these countries limited access to public health care in Australia (often only for emergencies and [[critical care medicine|critical care]]), and entitles eligible Australians to reciprocal rights while in one of these countries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reciprocal Health Care Agreements |url=http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/medicare/reciprocal-health-care-agreements |access-date=11 August 2013 |publisher=[[Department of Human Services (Australia)]] |archive-date=11 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711014443/https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/medicare/reciprocal-health-care-agreements |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Exclusions===
[[Asylum seekers in Australia]] who have applied for a protection visa and whose bridging visa had expired have no access to services like Medicare, and no [[Centrelink]] payments or other [[social services]], and are not allowed to work. It was estimated in July 2022 that there were around 2000 people in this situation.<ref name="Morris 2022">{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Nathan |date=10 July 2022 |title=Asylum seekers languish in Australia with no work, no hope and an uncertain future |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/asylum-seekers-no-visas-can-t-work-no-medicare-rely-on-charity/101153320 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711172730/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/asylum-seekers-no-visas-can-t-work-no-medicare-rely-on-charity/101153320 |archive-date=11 July 2022 |access-date=13 July 2022 |website=ABC News |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]}}</ref>

Prisoners, including children in juvenile detention, are not eligible for Medicare while imprisoned. Incarcerated patients are instead entitled to health services, which are funded and/or provided by the state or territory corrections or health department. The level of care available, however, is far below the level given to people with Medicare, and many health services and medications are inaccessible to incarcerated patients as they are considered too expensive to pay for them without Medicare funding.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cumming |first1=Craig |last2=Kinner |first2=Stuart A |last3=Preen |first3=David B |last4=Larsen |first4=Ann-Clare |date=2018 |title=In Sickness and in Prison: The Case for Removing the Medicare Exclusion for Australian Prisoners |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328250377 |journal=Journal of Law and Medicine |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=140–158 |pmid=30302978}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Plueckhahn |first1=Tessa M |last2=Stuart A |first2=Kinner |last3=Sutherland |first3=Georgina |last4=Butler |first4=Tony G |date=2015 |title=Are some more equal than others? Challenging the basis for prisoners' exclusion from Medicare |url=https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/171770/kinner126.pdf?sequence=1 |journal=Medical Journal of Australia |volume=203 |issue=9 |pages=359–361 |doi=10.5694/mja15.00588 |pmid=26510802 |s2cid=876658 |hdl=10072/171770 |access-date=7 August 2022 |archive-date=10 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710003051/https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/171770/kinner126.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Linnane |first1=Damien |last2=McNamara |first2=Donna |last3=Toohey |first3=Lisa |date=2023 |title=Ensuring universal access: The case for Medicare in prison |journal=[[Alternative Law Journal]] |volume=42 |issue=8 |pages=102–109 |doi=10.1177/1037969X231171160|doi-access=free }}</ref>