{"id":368576,"date":"2026-04-07T23:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/368576\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:00:16","slug":"sydney-healthcare-workers-push-for-refugee-medicare-access-amid-growing-health-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/368576\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney healthcare workers push for refugee Medicare access amid growing health concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

A growing number of people seeking asylum in Australia are missing out on lifesaving preventative health care due to being ineligible for Medicare, a group of Sydney doctors and nurses say.<\/p>\n

Many refugees can access free health care while waiting for permanent residency \u2014 a process which can take years \u2014 but some are deemed ineligible due to the nature of their visa.<\/p>\n

For example, people who have a temporary protection visa can work and access Medicare for up to three years while they wait for permanent residency, while someone granted a bridging visa can face work and health care restrictions.<\/p>\n

Others may initially be eligible for Medicare but later lose access while waiting for visa determination.<\/p>\n

Raj, whose name has been changed for safety concerns, fled danger in his home country about 10 years ago and is yet to receive permanent residency in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Raj is waiting for permanent residency and does not have access to Medicare. (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)<\/p>\n

The conditions of his temporary visa mean he is ineligible for Medicare, alongside his wife and 10-year-old daughter, who was born in Australia.<\/p>\n

Raj came into difficulty three years ago when he was hospitalised with severe chest pain and diagnosed with heart failure.<\/p>\n

“I was told my heart is working at just 25 per cent [capacity],” he said.<\/p>\n

He was told he would require an automated implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which is a small device placed in the chest to detect and manage irregular heartbeats.<\/p>\n

But without access to Medicare or private health insurance, Raj said he could not have the surgery.<\/p>\n

After experiencing thoughts of self-harm, he was referred to the Asylum Seekers Centre in Sydney, which offers health care to refugees.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Some visas enforce work and health care restrictions. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)<\/p>\n

He received a referral for the surgery through the centre, which can provide fee waivers for patients in need of urgent care.<\/p>\n

Raj also receives support for ongoing heart medication he requires \u2014 which he says costs upwards of $700 for two-week supply.<\/p>\n

He remains concerned about the health of his wife, who suffers from fibroids, and his daughter.<\/p>\n

“I can’t afford to bring her [his child] to the GP every time she is sick,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I only manage to buy her some Panadol.”<\/p>\n

Pregnant women at risk<\/p>\n

Asylum Seekers Centre health clinic manager and nurse Emily Cumming said patients often presented to the Newtown clinic with conditions which could have been managed with early intervention.<\/p>\n

It is estimated one in three refugees who come through the centre do not have Medicare.<\/p>\n

Ms Cumming said a woman who was advanced in her pregnancy revealed she had not sought care earlier because she was ineligible for Medicare.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

The Asylum Seekers Centre says refugee women are missing out on medical care early in their pregnancies. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

“It turns out the baby was a little bit larger than the normal weight and all of this could have been picked up much earlier in the pregnancy,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Cumming said another woman had been admitted to hospital with complications during childbirth after previously being turned away from antenatal care at another clinic due to her Medicare ineligibility.<\/p>\n

“I strongly believe all that could have been prevented,” she said.Early intervention missing<\/p>\n

Sydney GP Mark Harris has volunteered at the Asylum Seekers Centre for more than 25 years and says access to health care remains “depressingly unchanged”.<\/p>\n

He said patients with mental health concerns and conditions like diabetes had particularly poor long-term health outcomes if symptoms went untreated.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeking people who are already complex because of having missed out on early treatment,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mark Harris says refugees in the United Kingdom have better access to free health care than in Australia. (AAP: Joel Carrett)<\/p>\n

Professor Harris and Ms Cumming are among more than 130 medical professionals who have written to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to raise concerns about patients being denied treatment due to their Medicare status.<\/p>\n

“We’d like to see asylum seekers given access to Medicare so that they can access services in the community more readily,” Professor Harris said.<\/p>\n

The Department of Home Affairs was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Professor Harris said refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom had access to free National Health Service (NHS) care if they had an active application for residency.<\/p>\n

“There are some restrictions obviously but they’re in a far better situation than we are in Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/p>\n

Emily Cumming says many of her patients do not have Medicare. (Supplied: Asylum Seeker Centre)<\/p>\n

Ms Cumming said improving access to Medicare would help reduce the long-term burden on the healthcare system, and support vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n

“Access to health care is a human right and the fact we are denying people access to basic health care is incredibly worrisome,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing these people present with preventable conditions every day. It’s incredibly unfair to them and it’s incredibly unfair for the nurses that work with them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A growing number of people seeking asylum in Australia are missing out on lifesaving preventative health care due…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[193120,193121,193119,193115,193114,193126,68619,193124,134,527,2862,12551,193118,149857,193117,193116,111,139,145915,69,5994,193125,193122,193123,157300],"class_list":{"0":"post-368576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-asylum-seeker-centre","9":"tag-asylum-seeker-doctor","10":"tag-asylum-seeker-health","11":"tag-asylum-seeker-medicare","12":"tag-asylum-seekers","13":"tag-asylum-seekers-centre","14":"tag-cardiac","15":"tag-free-healthcare-refugees","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-healthcare","18":"tag-heart","19":"tag-medicare","20":"tag-medicare-claim","21":"tag-medicare-eligibility","22":"tag-medicare-rules","23":"tag-medicare-sydney","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-newzealand","26":"tag-nsw-news","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-pregnancy","29":"tag-refugee-healthcare","30":"tag-sydney-doctor","31":"tag-sydney-gp","32":"tag-sydney-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}