For players from overseas please note

Special consideration should be given in regard to players who are not residents of Australia and playing for your club. Although they will be eligible for claims under the Non Medicare Medical Expense of the ARU’s Sports Injury policy they may not be protected (depending on their individual circumstance) under Medicare thus there could be substantial medical expenses uninsured and/or non recoverable.  The current ARU policy pays up to 80% of medical expenses which are not payable or partly payable by Medicare to a maximum of $3,000 after deduction of $250 excess.   In view of this it would be prudent to ensure that separate Medical cover is taken out for overseas players who are not entitled to Medicare as their medical expenses could be significantly higher than the claimable $3,000 per injury with possibly no protection from Medicare.  Consideration should also be given to cover for injuries which may occur outside their duties for your club as well as illness.

Our understanding is that Medicare eligibility is restricted to persons living permanently in Australia who are; Australian citizens; permanent Australian residents; New Zealand residents and citizens of countries with reciprocal health care agreements (currently UK, New Zealand, Malta, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands) – (You should make your own inquiries on this as there may be conditions that apply and Medicare arrangements do and can change from time to time).  

Overseas players not entitled to Medicare should effect appropriate travel insurance before travelling to Australia or take-out private health insurance whilst in Australia tailored for non-residents. 

Some of the Private Health Funds offer cover for overseas residents, information can be found on their websites (some links are) -

www.aushealth.com/

www.australianunity.com.au/au/hins/htravel/ 

Additional information can also be obtained from -

www.medicare.gov.au/