You might be three months into a student visa, halfway through a working holiday, or a new permanent resident whose card has not arrived in the post yet. Every booking form you open seems to ask for a Medicare number, and you have not got one.
A private telehealth clinic does not need it. Medicare decides whether the government pays part of a fee, and a private consultation is paid in full by you, so there is nothing for the card to do. What the clinic does need is enough to identify you properly, and for most people without Medicare that means an Individual Healthcare Identifier, or IHI.
Before you book:
- A Medicare card is a billing document. A private clinic that never bills Medicare has no use for it beyond your file.
- An IHI is a separate number. Everyone enrolled in Medicare has one automatically. Everyone else can apply for one.
- The online application takes a passport with a valid Australian visa, or an Australian driver licence. You have to be in Australia when you apply.
- Private fees are the same with or without a card. Nothing is claimed back, so nothing changes.
Do you need a Medicare card for a telehealth consultation?
You need one only when the clinic bills Medicare. Bulk-billed and rebated telehealth runs on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, and those items come with their own conditions, including enrolment. A private clinic charges its own published fee and collects it from you.
LeafLine Clinic works entirely on private fees and does not bill Medicare for any appointment. If you have a Medicare number, it goes in your clinical record alongside your other details. If you do not, the booking goes ahead the same way. Who can use a telehealth consultation covers the rest of what decides whether you can book.
Who in Australia does not have a Medicare card?
Services Australia lists who can enrol in Medicare: people living in Australia who are Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens, permanent residents, people applying for permanent residency, and temporary residents covered by a ministerial order. Visitors from a country with a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement may be able to enrol too.
That leaves a larger group outside the system than most people expect. It includes most international students, working holiday makers, many temporary skilled visa holders and their families, and visitors from countries without a reciprocal agreement. It also includes people who are eligible but not enrolled yet, such as someone who arrived last month on a permanent visa and is still waiting for a card in the mail.
If you are on a student visa, you will already have Overseas Student Health Cover, because holding it is a condition of the visa. Whether your policy pays anything towards a private telehealth appointment depends on the insurer and the level of cover, so ask them directly before you assume either way.
What is an Individual Healthcare Identifier?
An IHI is a number that identifies you across the Australian health system. Clinics, pharmacies and other health services use it to make sure a record belongs to the right person, which matters when two patients share a name and a birthday.
According to Services Australia, you already have an IHI if you hold a Medicare card, hold a DVA card, or are enrolled in Medicare. You do not need to apply for anything, and that includes people who were enrolled years ago on a parent’s card. If you have never been enrolled in Medicare, you do not have one yet.
How do you get an IHI without Medicare?
You can apply online through myGov, and Services Australia sets out the steps:
- Sign in to myGov, or create an account if you do not have one.
- Go to services and choose to link a service.
- Select the IHI service from the list.
- Follow the prompts, which include verifying your identity against one of two documents: your passport with a valid Australian visa, or your Australian driver licence.
You must be in Australia when you apply, because your identity is verified here. If you do not have either document, there is a paper form, the Request an Individual Healthcare Identifier form, which takes longer and asks for other identity documents instead.
Once you have an IHI, you can also request a second one under a pseudonym if you are worried about your real name appearing in health records. Services Australia notes that you cannot claim Medicare or PBS medicines under a pseudonym, which matters less if you were never claiming either.
What does a consultation cost without Medicare?
A private consultation costs the same whether or not you hold a card. Because the fee is paid in full by the patient either way, holding a card neither lowers the price nor adds anything to it. LeafLine Clinic’s current fees, including the follow-up rates and the cancellation terms, are on the fees page.
If a Clinician does issue a prescription, whatever is dispensed is a separate cost, set by the pharmacy and paid to the pharmacy. Ask what it will be before anything is dispensed rather than finding out at the counter. What a telehealth consultation fee covers explains where the consultation fee stops and other costs begin.
What should you have ready before the appointment?
Most of this takes five minutes if you do it the day before:
- Your IHI, or your passport and visa details if you have not applied yet. Having the number ready saves the Clinician collecting it during your appointment time.
- An Australian address. Clinical records and any paperwork from the appointment need one, even if it is temporary student accommodation.
- A list of what you currently take, including anything prescribed overseas, with the dose written the way it appears on the packet.
- Any records from home. A letter from your previous clinic, even in another language, gives the Clinician a starting point. Photos on your phone are fine.
- A private space and a charged device. A closed bedroom works; a shared study room in a library does not.
The bottom line
Without a Medicare card you can still book a private telehealth consultation, because the fee was never going to Medicare in the first place. Get your IHI through myGov before you book if you can, have your documents and a list of your current medicines to hand, and expect to pay the same published fee as everyone else.
Australian advertising law limits what any clinic can say publicly about prescription medicines, so this article stays with identification, fees and process. Anything about your own health belongs in a consultation.
If your visa or residency situation is unusual and you want to check before paying anything, the 10-minute info call involves no clinical assessment and no payment.
This article is general information only, not legal, migration or medical advice. Medicare enrolment eligibility and the IHI application steps are from Services Australia, checked on 30 September 2026. The OSHC visa condition is from privatehealth.gov.au, checked on the same date.
