Will my eye examination be bulk billed to Medicare?
In 2015 the Federal Government made changes to optometric rebates under Medicare, reducing rebates back to 2010 levels and freezing these rebates until 2018. Furthermore the time interval between visits attracting the full rebate was increased from two years to three years.
These reductions in Medicare fees and rebates made it no longer possible for us to direct bill most patients, so the consultation is payable by the individual now but a Medicare rebate is applied for by Vision West on the patient behalf at the time of the visit. This means although there is now a small gap between the consultation fee and the Medicare rebate, we at Vision West do the claim via Medicare electronically for you on the spot, so there is no need for you to go to a Medicare office to receive your rebate.
Though some other practices, in particular the corporate franchises, may still bulk bill visits, this is generally in an environment that offers a much shorter consultation time. At Vision West our full appointment slot is forty minutes, not the fifteen minutes that is common in a corporate environment, therefore allowing us to provide complete vision care for your visual needs.