The Government says Australians are owed over $230 million worth of unclaimed Medicare benefits.
The highest rate of unclaimed Medicare benefits is among 18 to 24-year-olds, who are owed an average of $240 per person.
Benefits are typically paid out within three days.
Here’s what you need to know.
Details of unclaimed Medicare benefits
Medicare subsidises several health care expenses across hospital, medical and pharmaceutical services.
Benefits are paid via electronic transfer. However, Medicare holds on to a person’s benefits if it doesn’t have their bank details.
Almost one million people are owed Medicare benefits of varying amounts, totalling $234 million. This includes more than 220,000 18-to-24-year-olds, who are owed
nearly $50 million in unclaimed Medicare benefits.
How to claim
To make a claim, you need to ensure your myGov and Medicare accounts are linked. You can check this by signing in to myGov and selecting ‘View and link services’.
Once your accounts are linked, you can update your bank details in Medicare’s ‘my details’.
When your details are confirmed, payment is typically processed within three days.
Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten said “We know Australians are doing it tough, and I want to reunite people with millions in unpaid Medicare benefits before the holidays.”
Around 300,000 Australians aren’t registered with myGov, meaning they cannot be notified about potential unclaimed benefits.
Shorten also flagged that myGov or Medicare will never send text messages with links.
