Ok. Here’s a deal. Indulge this history lover for a few minutes and you may find something that will make you very happy (and possibly a little — or a lot — wealthier) at the end.
No skipping to the last sentence. Here we go.
One of the most iconic years in modern history has to have been 1984.
British novelist George Orwell set the year up as legend through his dystopian masterpiece of the same name.
But when we hit 1984 40 (yep, 40) years ago it was a biggie in its own right as the apex of the 1980s.
In Australian music, Heaven by Eurogliders and Flame Trees by Cold Chisel were released, among international interlopers like Madonna with her single Like a Virgin.
In sport, Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympics, Torvill and Dean won gold in the ice skating at the winter games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and Essendon won the VFL grand final in an absolute heartstopper.
In general history, Prince Harry was born, the first Apple Macintosh computer went on sale, and in Britain, the Irish Republican Army made an assassination attempt on the UK prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and British coal miners began their year-long strike in protest against her closing down mines.
In Australia, Bob Hawke was prime minister, Paul Keating was treasurer, the Federal budget was first televised (hey, it was a watershed moment for fiscal nerds), Advance Australia Fair became our national anthem, I was in Year 12, and Medicare was born.
Forty years on, Medicare remains the greatest piece of social infrastructure in our nation’s history and is as special to Australians now as it was back in 1984.
A few weeks back I visited Services Australia in the Bankstown Central shopping centre, where the first Medicare shopfront in Australia was opened in 1984 not far from where it is situated today.
When Keating opened the service centre, he said Medicare would make access to healthcare cheaper, fairer and simpler.
What was remarkable about my Bankstown visit was meeting the staff who had collective experience of more than 100 years of serving Australians.
Service centre manager Lee has been working for Medicare and now Services Australia for more than 40 years.
Team leader Lily started her career in Bankstown at Medicare 38 years ago.
Her fellow team leader Leonie has been with Medicare and Services Australia for 36 years and spoke to me about how much the processes have changed. It used to be the shopfront got twice weekly deliveries of cash and safes.
While the Australia of today is very different from 1984, the original premise of Medicare, to provide universal healthcare to all Australians, remains intact and as ambitious as ever.
These days Australians want to access their services online. In fact, 99.7 per cent of Medicare claims handled by Services Australia last year were digital.
The Albanese Government is transforming Medicare’s online platforms, to make sure the 27 million Australians using the scheme can do so in a way that works for them.
We recently launched the new Medicare claims tracker, allowing people to follow the progress of their claim in their Medicare Online Account and Express Plus Mobile App.
Before this, people had to call to see how their claim was tracking — now, they can find it with a few taps on their phone.
The tracker has already been used more than 915,000 times, with customers using the new feature for an average of just 12 seconds.
We’ve expanded the options for people to enrol in Medicare, with a new online enrolment option helping more than 53,000 people access the Medicare entitlements they’re eligible for, faster.
This is a far cry from the days of having to go into a Medicare shopfront and line up to present your medical receipts to get your rebate.
It was a tedious exercise.
But in 1992 that changed when electronic claiming was introduced.
Your doctor’s receptionist will have taken your Medicare card at some point so your rebate goes directly in your account. No more queuing.
But the problem is, not everybody updates their bank details on their Medicare profile.
And because of that (here’s the bit you’ve been waiting for) there is around $240 million in unpaid Medicare benefits waiting for one million Australians to come and claim it.
Are your details are up to date? Because if they’re not, you might be owed money.
The average amount due to people is $250 but some are owed more than $10,000!
And the age group owed the most is the 18 to 24 year olds.
The easiest way to check is to go to myGov, on your app or on the website, select Medicare, and update your bank details. That will take about two minutes.
If you’re owed money, Medicare will get it into your bank account in about three days.
What have you got to lose?
And you can help by spreading the word, because lots of people are doing it tough right now and some extra cash would be welcomed.
I know sceptics may not believe a government is trying this hard to give your money back to you, but the bottom line is, it’s not ours to keep. It’s yours.
Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbours because we want this money back with the Australians it belongs to.
Originally published in The West Australian Monday 28 October 2024.