Telehealth for Travellers in Australia

Travelling around Australia can be a dream come true, until you need to find medical assistance – fast – somewhere in the great Australian outback, in a town beyond the stump. Thanks to a growing number of telehealth providers in Australia, you can now get various levels of medical assistance where you are, from digital appointments with nurses to virtual emergency rooms. Here’s what you need to know before booking.

Providers offer a range of products and services from instant scripts over medical certificates to doctors’ consultations, referrals, and even specialist care. They can generally be divided into a few categories: Medicare-funded or private services and 24/7, after-hours, or business-hours providers. Let’s have a look.

Medicare Covered:

Free or bulk-billed services generally require you to be registered with Medicare. You can enrol for the state-funded scheme if you’re living in Australia [1], for example, on a student visa, or if you come from a country like the UK that has a reciprocal healthcare agreement [2]. Enrolling does take a little time, as you need to register. You can find more information on the Services Australia website [3]. If you do not qualify, you may still need to register for an Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) via Services Australia [4] to be eligible for eScripts sent to your phone. While this is not mandatory, it can help speed up the process of obtaining medications prescribed by a doctor.

While there are some providers available like Abby Health and 13SICK that offer online bulk-billed sessions exclusively, telehealth covered under Medicare can also be provided by a General Practitioner (GP) of your choice, provided you have been to your practice in the last 12 months. If you’re travelling in Australia, it could be a good idea to visit a GP who offers telehealth services (which you can find on Health Direct) at the start of your journey, so you have a doctor who can oversee your health throughout your trip. This offers a greater level of care and consistency, as they can keep your records and provide a level of oversight you won’t find through a one-off telehealth consult.

Private:

Most online-only telehealth providers in Australia offer privately paid services, sometimes with an aspect of bulk-billing, such as for mental health or after-hours care. While you may think that private services may be more expensive than Medicare-covered sessions, this is not always the case. In Australia, doctors’ practices can set their fees, and you may have to pay a gap fee that can vary from clinic to clinic.

If you are trying to save money, some online providers like HubHealth and Updoc offer monthly subscriptions at the same rate as a one-off doctors’ consultation or the gap fee at some GP clinics. It is worth shopping around. You can find detailed listings of some of the most popuar telehealth providers on MediCompare.

Some private providers also work with private health insurance companies. For example, BUPA, Allianz Care, NIB, and HBF all offer varying levels of access to telehealth cover, from fully covered access with BUPA to one provider to post-appointment refunds for a provider of your choice with HBF. If you have private health insurance, check your cover.

There are plenty of upsides to using telehealth to complement your visit with your regular doctor, including the extended hours and fast access to appointments (many services offer them within an hour) from anywhere. If you are visiting on a working holiday visa, you may need access to medical certificates without access to a doctor (or being too unwell to travel to the nearest one) to prove to your employer or agency that you are sick. Some of Australia’s most popular sights can be miles away from the nearest clinic, such as many of our National Parks, for example, and telehealth may be the best solution you have. Australia has its first virtual emergency room in My Emergency Doctor, where you can wait for the first available senior doctors specialising in emergency care.

Finally, specialist appointments in Australia can sometimes take a long time to obtain, making them even more challenging to book if you are travelling around Australia and don’t know where you will be in, say, a month or two. In this case, a service like Docto Online Hospital may be a good solution, offering a virtual appointment with a specialist of your choice. (You could also get a referral first via one of the other telehealth services, if you can claim on Medicare, to bring the price down.)

MediCompare offers comprehensive reviews of each telehealth provider. But if you don’t have time to check them out in detail, I’ve reviewed them for pricing, user feedback, speed, services offered, and opening hours. Here’s my top six:

Urgent 24/7 Care, Senior Emergency Specialist, Private

My Emergency Doctor is a virtual 24/7 emergency room and senior specialist emergency doctors. You can call 1800 123 663 or click on "Call Doctor" on the website to join the virtual emergency room instantly. Private cost of $150.

24/7, Affordable, Some Bulk-Billing, Fast Appointments and Medication Delivery

Hola Health offers around-the-clock consults within 15 minutes. Repeat scripts and mental health care are completely bulk-billed, and other services cost from $14.90. Fast 2-hour medicine delivery from $5.99 in some areas.

Cheap Monthly Subscription, Fast, Extended Hours, Private

Updoc offers consultations within minutes to one hour between 6 am and 12 am every day. Costs from $19.95 for monthly subscriptions (with three tiers) or a one-off medical certificate.

Extremely Fast Consultation Access, 24/7, Fast Specialist Access, Some Bulk-Billing

Docto Online Hospital offers all-day-and-night access to online doctors within 7 minutes. Costs $79. Medicare-covered specialist care (from $35 gap fee) available within hours.

Fast, 24/7, some after-hours bulk-billing

PrimeMedic offers telehealth around-the-clock services from $21.99. Some bulk-billed after-hours care is available. The site helps find the nearest open pharmacy and sends your script directly.

When travelling through Australia, checking out your telehealth options in advance is a good idea. If you want to keep your costs down, you should sign up for Medicare or get a personal IHI, and perhaps sign up for a private health fund that offers telehealth access or reimburses appointments. You can opt to visit a GP offering telehealth services at the beginning of your trip, sign up for a private monthly telehealth subscription service, use your private healthcare cover to fund online telehealth, or save the number and set up a profile with one or several of the fastest and most comprehensive telehealth services available when you need it.

This content is independently researched and verified but serves informational purposes only. Please do your own research, as prices and availability of telehealth providers can be subject to change.

Always consult your primary doctor where possible with medical and health-related questions.

In a life-threatening emergency, call 000 immediately.

1] https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/enrolling-medicare?context=60092
[2] https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/when-reciprocal-health-care-agreements-apply-and-you-visit-australia?context=22481Introduction
[3] https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/enrolling-medicare?context=60092#howtoenrol
[4] https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/ms003