Adding your new baby to Medicare

Medicare is Australia's universal health insurance scheme. It allows Australians to use many health and hospital services for free or at a low cost.

Medicare is funded by Australian taxpayers.

You should sign your baby up for Medicare soon after they are born.

Once your baby is on your Medicare card, they can get free or low-cost healthcare.

If your baby is under 1 year old, you can sign them up using a Newborn Child Declaration form. You will have been given this form as part of your Parent Pack, when your baby was born.

The back page of the form must be filled out and signed by a midwife or doctor. Submitting this form will automatically sign your baby up for Medicare.

After you fill in the Newborn Child Declaration, you can submit it through your:

• Medicare online account through myGov
• Centrelink online account through myGov
• Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

If you don't have a Newborn Child Declaration form, you will need:

• your child's birth certificate
• a Medicare enrolment form

You can mail or email the form to Medicare. You don't need to get your supporting documents certified.

You can also sign up your baby for Medicare online when you claim for some payments. These include the Family Tax Benefit, including Newborn Upfront Payment and Newborn Supplement, and Parental Leave Pay.

You will need to use your completed Newborn Child Declaration form in your claim.

It takes about 3 to 4 weeks to get a new Medicare card with your baby's name on it.

You can get a digital version of your Medicare card. To access it, sign into the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. You will need a myGov account to use the app.

You can register a child who is older than 1 year with Medicare. You will need a Medicare enrolment form as well as their birth certificate.

Your baby can be listed on 2 Medicare cards. For this to happen you need to fill out another form. The form is called application to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another form.

Enrolling your baby for Medicare will also add them to the Australian Immunisation Register. This register keeps track of your baby's vaccinations.

My Health Record is a secure online summary of your baby's health information. It allows you to share your baby's health information with doctors and other healthcare providers.

You can get a My Health Record for your newborn by completing the Newborn Child Declaration form and registering them for their My Health Record.

My Health Record can help you keep track of your baby's health information including:

• vaccination records
• allergy information
• medicines they are taking

The Medicare Safety Net gives more money back to families who spend a lot on healthcare.

If your family is registered for the Medicare Safety Net, you will need to tell Medicare about your new baby. You can do this by filling in the Medicare Safety Net registration and amendment for couples and families form. You can also call Medicare on 132 011.

If you are an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person, to add your baby to your Medicare card, fill in: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medicare enrolment and amendment form.

You will need a referee to sign the form. The form tells you who can be a referee.

You can mail or email the form to Medicare Enrolment Services.

If you need help with the form, you can call the Indigenous access line on 1800 556 955.

You can visit Pregnancy, Birth and Baby's health service finder to find local health services in your area.

Find out more about enrolling your baby in Medicare on the Services Australia website.