Is medical care free for international students in Australia?

OSHCstudents – In Australia, Medicare is the public healthcare system that allows residents of the country to access physical and mental healthcare services. Medicare is not available for international students in Australia so you must purchase Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) to cover your health problems when studying in Australia.

What is Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC)?

OSHC is insurance that is designed specifically to help international students cover any medical expenses or hospital care that they might need when they are studying in Australia. It is important that every international student applies and starts their student health coverage before they leave their home country.

Who needs OSHC?

Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship requires that everyone with a student visa and their dependants has OSHC for their entire time in Australia. However, there are some exceptions:

• students from Belgium, as they are covered by the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement
• students from Sweden, if they are covered under the National Board of Student Aid (Kammarkollegiet)
• students from Norway, as they are covered by the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme.

What does OSHC offer?

Once you have paid for your OSHC plan, you are then eligible to use the Australian medical (Medicare) services, including:

• Medicare out-of-hospital services
• In-patient medical services
• Public hospital ward accommodation
• Private hospital accommodation with OSHC agreements
• Day surgery accommodation
• Selective prosthetic devices
• Pharmaceutical services
• Ambulance services
• Accident and emergency services

Can international students in Australia use Medicare?

There is no medical care available for international students in Australia if they have not bought OSHC. Therefore, OSHC is a required part of visa application.

It is important to have continuous cover for your time in Australia. Students who may end up studying in two or more institutions must make sure that they have constant cover and don’t end up with periods of time where you do not have health insurance.

Annalink cooperates with 5 Australian government-approved health & medical insurance providers to provide OSHC for foreign students studying in Australia, including Allianz, Bupa, Medibank, AHM, and nib. With a knowledgeable, experienced and responsive team, we can help you select the best policy which suits your needs and budget.

To easily purchase OSHC, you should contact Annalink agents to receive selfless support. Additionally, you can easily quote, and compare premiums on our website www.oshcstudents.com.au.

Are dental care and eye care included with OSHC?

OSHC insurance plans don’t usually cover dental, optical or physiotherapy services. If you want to be covered for these services too, then you may have to take out extra insurance. Extras cover is a sort of health insurance that provides coverage for a variety of treatments not covered by the OSHC system. If you acquire an extras policy, you will pay standard premiums for coverage of the services stated in the policy.

You are international students or foreigners arriving to Australia, or Australian citizens travelling abroad who are looking for OSHC, OVHC, or travel insurance, please contact OSHCstudents Team at email: info@oshcstudents.com and our partners for further information and assistance.

OSHCstudents (The Times Higher Education)