All residents of Australia who have a green (full) or blue (interim) Medicare card are eligible to receive a minimum 30% rebate on the cost of their health insurance premium by the Federal Government. The level of rebate is determined by the age of the oldest member covered by the health insurance policy.
| Age | Rebate level |
| Under 65 years old | 30% |
| 65-69 years old | 35% |
| Over 70 years old | 40% |
You can claim the rebate in one of three ways:
1. The most commonly preferred method is to deduct the rebate from the cost of your health insurance premium. This is the method that most health funds assume when providing you with a quote for health insurance. If you choose another method, the premium you pay to your health fund will be correspondingly higher.
2. Claim the rebate at tax time, when completing your tax return.
3. Claim the health insurance rebate as a cash amount from your local Medicare office.
Yes, you can. While Lifetime Health Cover applies to hospital cover only, the rebate is claimable on both hospital and extras policies. This means that even if you have an Lifetime Health Cover age loading penalty on your hospital cover, your overall cost will still be lower because the health insurance rebate applies to both hospital and extras.
That's right. In 2009, the Labor Government announced plans to means-test the rebate. That means, the more you earn, the lower your rebate will be. These changes won't take effect until the proposal is passed by the Senate, which hasn't happened yet. Read all about the changes in our article: How the proposed health insurance rebate changes could affect you.
