Is telehealth bulk billed? Medicare and telehealth costs explained

Short answer: yes — telehealth can be bulk billed in Australia, the same way an in‑person appointment can. Whether your telehealth consult is free comes down to two things: whether your clinic chooses to bulk bill, and whether you’re eligible for a Medicare rebate for that service.

Here’s how it all fits together.

What “bulk billed” actually means

Bulk billing is when your health provider bills Medicare directly and accepts the Medicare benefit as full payment. When that happens, you pay nothing (healthdirect).

If a service isn’t bulk billed, you pay the clinic’s fee and Medicare pays you back a rebate. The difference between the fee and the rebate is your “gap” or out‑of‑pocket cost. For standard GP items, the Medicare rebate is 100% of the schedule fee; for specialists it’s 85%.

Bulk billing isn’t automatic. It’s a choice each provider makes — some bulk bill everyone, some only bulk bill concession card holders or children, and some don’t bulk bill at all. Always ask the clinic what they charge.

Telehealth is billed the same way as in‑person care

Medicare treats eligible telehealth consultations like in‑person ones. The same clinic can bulk bill a phone or video consult exactly as it would a face‑to‑face visit (Services Australia). So “is telehealth bulk billed?” really becomes “does this clinic bulk bill, and am I eligible?”

In recent years the government has also strengthened bulk billing incentives, including through MyMedicare registration — for example, an enhanced incentive for longer telehealth consultations with a patient’s registered practice (healthdirect). That makes it more attractive for practices to bulk bill telehealth, but it’s still the practice’s decision.

Are you eligible for a Medicare rebate on telehealth?

For a telehealth service to attract a Medicare rebate (bulk billed or not), it has to meet the MBS rules. The big one for GP telehealth is the existing‑relationship requirement (recently reframed by the Department as the “eligible telehealth practitioner” rule): in general, you must have seen that GP — or another GP at the same practice — face‑to‑face in the previous 12 months (Services Australia).

There are important exemptions where the 12‑month rule doesn’t apply, including (among others):

• Children under 12 months of age
• People experiencing homelessness
• Patients receiving an urgent after‑hours service
• Certain services such as blood‑borne virus, sexual and reproductive health consults
• People affected by a natural disaster, and some others

The exact list and wording change over time, so check the current AskMBS advisory or ask your clinic. Note this rule is mainly about GP telehealth — many specialist telehealth items work differently.

How to know before you book

The simplest approach:

1. Ask the clinic directly whether the telehealth consult will be bulk billed for you.
2. Have your Medicare card ready — you need to be enrolled in Medicare to be bulk billed.
3. Check any gap fee up front if they don’t bulk bill, so there are no surprises.

Where the software fits in

The telehealth platform your clinic uses doesn’t change your Medicare entitlement — bulk billing is between you, the clinic and Medicare. What the platform affects is how easily you can connect. Tools like MedCall let you join a consult by tapping a link, with no app and no account — so the “will it work?” stress disappears and you can focus on the appointment.

The bottom line

Telehealth can absolutely be bulk billed — Medicare rebates apply to eligible video and phone consults just as they do in person. Whether you pay anything depends on your clinic’s bulk‑billing policy and your eligibility (especially the 12‑month GP relationship rule). When in doubt, ask the clinic before you book, and check the current rules on Services Australia.