Medicare Safety Net

Medicare Safety Net Rebates are substantial and additional to the usual standard rebates.

If your family has reached the Medicare gap expenditure threshold, you will be eligible for these additional rebates of up to 80% of the gap for the remainder of the calendar year.

For example, if your standard gap is $750, you may be rebated up to an additional $600; if $550, up to $440; if $380, up to $304.

For a standard review appointment with a gap of $165, the additional rebate is up to $132, in addition to the standard rebate of $77.95.

Medicare Safety Net Eligibility

Eligibility is detFamilies with newborns delivered in a private maternity service.

If your obstetrician’s gap for mum is incurred in the same calendar year as the birth and private neonate care, your family will probably meet the eligibility threshold.

Some other families may become eligible.

Accessing Safety Net rebates for newborn care accounts:

To access these rebates, you must ensure that

1. Your newborn has been enrolled with Medicare

2. Your newborn (and other family members) are confirmed as family members with their mother for the Safety Net.

Here is how to register your family members together for your Medicare Family Safety Net:

  • Go to Mum's MyGOV > Then MEDICARE > Then SAFETY NET

  • The GREEN BAR shows whether Mum's gap expenditre has met the EMSN Threshold

  • MyGov usually asks if you wish to confirm your newborn and other family members on your Family Safety Net

  • Scroll down > Do you want to make changes to the family members listed?: enter NO > then click the GREEN CONFIRM BUTTON

For more information about the Medicare Safety Net Scheme, call Medicare or visit 

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/how-to-manage-your-medicare-safety-net?context=22001

If you have not confirmed your Family Safety Net?

When families settle their account, we lodge a Medicare rebate claim on their behalf, if possible and send a copy of the Statement of Claim. This Statement shows the rebates Medicare will transfer to your bank account.

If you have not confirmed your family correctly, but are eligible, you can claim these Safety Net rebates later. However, Medicare advises that EMSN rebate claims may take up to 2 years to process if claimed separately.

If eligibility for EMSN rebates is considered likely, and the Medicare Statement of Claim does not show the additional rebates, we will cancel the claim if possible. We then notify you so that you can confirm your Family Safety Net. We can only cancel claims within about 15 minutes of submission.

Once you have correctly confirmed your Family Safety Net, contact us (by email, voicemail or phone call) to ask us to resubmit the claim. If you wish us to submit the claim regardless of Safety Net eligibility, please advise.

If it is too late to cancel the claim, you can phone Medicare to retrospectively register your child on your Family Safety Net and claim the additional rebates.