Australian health policy on access to medical care for refugees and asylum seekers

Correa-Velez, Ignacio; Gifford, Sandra M; Bice, Sara J

doi:10.1186/1743-8462-2-23

Australia and New Zealand Health Policy

Table 3 Country comparison of health entitlements for refugees and asylum seekers according to status

From: Australian health policy on access to medical care for refugees and asylum seekers

	Australia	New Zealand	Canada	UK
Refugee	Medicare	NZ Health System coverage	Provincial Health Cover: Canada's Federal Health system (comprised of Federal and Provincial contributions) includes comprehensive health cover, including hospital, physician, surgical-dental and specialist cover.	NHS Coverage
Asylum Seeker in detention	Health care through the private company in charge of the detention centres ^a	N/A: Asylum Seekers rarely held in detention for longer than 48 hours ^b	No overarching coverage: individuals are assessed on a case-by-case basis ^b	National Health Service (NHS) Coverage. Coverage includes: primary & secondary care, free prescriptions, dental services, coverage of travel costs to/from hospital ^b
Asylum Seeker awaiting primary decision of refugee status	Depends on when visa applied for: If application submitted within 45 days of arrival, then individuals have access to Medicare but no translating services, Early Health Assessment and Intervention, and torture/trauma counselling, If application submitted after 45 days of arrival, then no Medicare access	NZ Health System coverage. Coverage includes all services, such as: Primary & secondary care, co-payment of pharmaceuticals, specialist referral and coverage, cost offsets for 'frequent users' of medical services, hospital & accident cover, dental, mental, maternity and sexual health care.	Interim Federal Health (IFH) Program coverage. Coverage includes essential health services for the treatment & prevention of serious medical conditions, essential prescription medications, contraception, prenatal care, obstetrical care, Immigration Medical Exam, emergency dental service.	NHS coverage
Asylum Seeker appealing a negative Refugee Review Tribunal (or equivalent) outcome	No access to Medicare ^c	NZ Health System coverage NB: may take some time to receive Community Services Card, necessary for accessing a General Practitioner (GP)	IFH Program Coverage	NHS Coverage
Refused Asylum Seeker who has exhausted all appeals	No access to Medicare ^d	NZ Health System coverage NB: may take some time to receive Community Services Card, necessary for accessing a GP	IFH Program Coverage	Primary & urgent care only ^e

Sources: [14, 31-33, 36, 37, 49, 55-60]
^a Detention is mandatory for all 'unauthorised arrivals'.
^b Detention is not mandatory for 'unauthorised arrivals'.
^c Under certain circumstances, these individuals may be eligible for ASAS. See: DIMIA, 2003.
^d The majority of individuals in this circumstance will not have Medicare access. A small number of individuals living in the community on 'Removal Pending Bridging Visas' will, however, have access.
See: Table 2 for further explanation.
^e Asylum Seekers who are deemed 'hard cases' maintain NHS coverage until a decision has been reached.

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