Migration article Medical Insurance for Australia

457 and 485 visas require medical insurance, there are other visas that also require medical insurance, and they are not reviewed in this article.

457 visa allows you to be sponsored by an Australian Employer and you can stay for 4 years. You must have a firm job offer before you apply for this visa. The employer must be approved by the government to employ 457 visa holders. Certain conditions have to be met, these include amongst other things financial ability, training standard of the business. It is also necessary to show that Australian nationals were not readily available to fill the post.

The sub class visa is a temporary graduate visa that lets you live, study and work in Australia on a temporary basis after one has finished a course of approved study.

If you are planning to work or come to Australia you may be required to have health insurance, in any case it’s a good practice to have health insurance for peace of mind.

There are two elements to the Australian health care system that a 457 and 485 visa holder should be aware of, the private sector and the public sector. The public sector is known as Medicare and this is controlled by the government.

When you purchase overseas health cover you are covered for emergency and non-emergency cover.

Non-emergency issue would be medical issues for which you visit your GP and the GP may prescribe treatment or refer you to a specialist for further diagnoses and onward treatment.

Emergency issues will be such issues as calling an ambulance to be taken to hospital and the treatment for the resultant problem or when you go to the accident and emergency department at a hospital.

It is a good idea to check which countries are member to a reciprocal health treaty with Australia.

Here is a list of these countries

Belgium, Finland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, United Kingdom

Conditions do vary so it’s best to check your country of origin and the terms of the agreement.

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/participating-rhca-countries

Here is an idea of the cost of cover per month, these are a rough estimate to give the reader an idea of the variations in the market

$75 per month, $85 per month, $98 per month $159 perm month and $191 per month.

We have not included the name of the companies, term and conditions vary so please check that your minimum health cover needs are being met under the terms of your visa and remember your country of origin may have an impact on the level of insurance cover you need.