Using your Medicare card

You can use your Medicare card to get free or subsidised medical treatment when you see a doctor. You can use your Medicare card:

when making a claim for a paid or unpaid doctor's account at a Service Centre, when visiting a doctor who bulk bills or can lodge your claim for you, online, or when you are treated as a public (Medicare) patient in a public hospital
when getting subsidised Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions filled at the pharmacy.

To make sure you can access these benefits you should:

check the expiry date on the card—call us if your card is out of date. We will automatically replace your card before it expires, and send it to the address we have recorded
check we have your current address so you receive your replacement card or important information from us. For parents of young children, correct details will also ensure you will receive immunisation history statements from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register
make sure you destroy your old card when you receive your new Medicare. Your old card is cancelled in our records when your new card is issued.