The Medicare Safety Net is designed to reduce your total Out-of-Pocket medical costs.

Your Safety Net entitlement commences at the start of each calendar year and once you have reached a threshold, Medicare will pay up to 80 per cent of your Out-of-Pocket costs for most medical services that are provided outside a hospital (i.e. where you were not admitted to a hospital).

At Melbourne IVF, an Out-of-Pocket expense is the amount charged over and above the Medicare schedule fee. Not all treatment items are eligible for Medicare Safety Net Benefits - these include egg pick up and other items. The Medicare Safety Net entitlement does not include hospital-related services such as oocyte retrieval, nor does it reimburse for items without a Medicare item number, such as ICSI, testicular biopsy or administration fees.

Your Safety Net threshold is subject to change in value every January and is currently either:

The Safety Net entitlement rules are complex and cannot be easily summarised in this short article. I therefore urge all patients to view the Medicare website www.medicareaustralia.gov.au to understand their potential entitlements as a Concessional Family, a FTB(A) family or as a single patient.

You need to register

In order to claim Safety Net benefits, all couples and families must register for the Safety Net. You can register online at the above website in "online services" or at a Medicare Office. There is no charge to register.

Once you have reached your Out-of-Pocket threshold, you will be asked to sign a Safety Net Confirmation Form at a Medicare office (you cannot do this online). If you are a single Medicare Card holder you do not have to register, but you will need to sign a Confirmation form.

You only need to register once, but you must re-confirm every calendar year. By confirming all family members on your Confirmation form, you will all be on the same Medicare Safety Net threshold and will begin receiving benefits.

How to receive documentation for Safety Net filing

As soon as we receive the Medicare cheque from you, and providing your cycle is paid in full, we will send you your Medicare Safety Net statement outlining the amounts charged by Melbourne IVF and rebated by Medicare. You should then take this statement to a Medicare office for processing. If it is your first claim of the calendar year you will be asked to sign the Medicare Safety Net Confirmation Form.

Alternatively, if you choose to pay your fees in full, including the Medicare portion, the Medicare rebate will be electronically transferred into your nominated bank or credit union account. To achieve this, you will need to advise us your account details and your six-digit Bank State Branch (BSB) number so we can forward this information to Medicare. This way, you will receive your Medicare rebate within four working days. If you ask for a cheque, this will take longer.

When you pay your fees in full, you will be given a Medicare Safety Net statement that you can take to your local Medicare office to be applied towards your Medicare Safety Net benefits.

Budget for the benefits

When you are budgeting for your IVF treatment fees, please ensure that you include the potential benefit of your Safety Net entitlement in your calculations. Once you have passed your threshold each year, you can expect that up to 80 per cent of your Out-of-Pocket costs will be returned to you as a Medicare Safety Net benefit.

Check-out the website

We urge you to study the Medicare website www.medicareaustralia.gov.au or to contact your local Medicare Office to ensure that you maximise your entitlements under the Medicare Safety Net.

Our Patient Accounts staffs are always happy to discuss the Safety Net with you, but may be limited in their ability to offer advice. This is because your Medicare Safety Net entitlement will reflect your particular circumstances at the time of making a claim or an enquiry. So it is in your best interest to enquire directly through Medicare.

Our staff may be contacted on 9473 4421