Aussies have been urged to check to see if they are one of the million people who are owed hundreds or thousands each in unclaimed Medicare rebates.
Approximately $272million is owed to those who went to see the doctor but never received their rebate due to incorrectly registered bank details on the MyGov website.
There are currently 972,300 Aussies who are owed an average of $280 each.
There are 309 people, however, who are each owed $10,000 or more.
Some could even be eligible for up to $30,000 but of the handful that are out there some may no longer be alive.
A quarter of those affected are aged between 18 and 24, according to government figures.
Services Australia has been leading the charge in trying to reduce the backlog of rebates, but its recent efforts have made little impact on the growing figure.
Since 2023, the amount of money owed has grown from $230million to $272million.
There are 972,300 who are currently owed a total of $272 million in unclaimed Medicare rebates
Services Australia is trying to reach out to those that are owed money
Anyone owed money simply needs to update their bank details and the money will automatically go into their account, Services Australia’s general manager Hank Jongen said.
‘Believe it or not, it’s simply because we don’t have their bank account details,’ he told triple j Hack.
‘Unfortunately, a lot of people with Medicare enter into “set and forget” mode.’
To try and address the issue, Services Australia actively reaches out to those owed money via email and other methods, Mr Jongen added.
Agents also contact doctors telling them to inform their patients to update their details in follow-up appointments once the issue is discovered.
Sometimes, the agency also tries to send letters out to patients’ homes but if their MyGov account does not include up-to-date address details then the trail goes cold.
Depending on the type of services people receive at GP clinics, the matter of rebates can affect them differently.
Bulk-billed appointments are not impacted by this issue since patients do not pay for them to begin with, but for other clinics that do not, this is where it becomes an issue.
The average amount owed per person is $280 but a certain few are owed either $10,000 or $30,000 each
Labor promised at the last federal election to make nine out of 10 GP visits bulk-billed by increasing incentives for doctors.
It was part of the party’s $8.5billion pledge to increase funding for the service.
To date, bulk-billed appointments have nominally risen from an estimated 77.6 per cent of all appointments between July and September 2025.
Now they account for 81.4 per cent between November 2025 and January 2026.
Despite this, some Australians still report having trouble finding which clinics offer bulk-billing when they book appointments.
