What happens if I don’t have private health insurance?

In Australia, you do not have to take out private health insurance.

If you have a Medicare Card, you can receive treatment as a public patient in a public hospital.

If you do not take out private health insurance, you will not receive help from an insurer to pay for:

• the cost of being treated as a private patient in hospital 
• medical services not covered by Medicare, such as Chiropractic, Optical or Physiotherapy.

Alternatively, you can pay to be treated as a private patient.

The main reasons you might take out private health insurance are:

• it helps you pay to be treated as a private patient in a public or private hospital
• you can be treated by the doctor of your choice
• you avoid lengthy public hospital waiting lists
• you can select where you are treated
• it gives you more say over the type of hospital accommodation
• it helps pay for services that Medicare does not cover.