Pricing & Appointements

Medicare Rebates…

To receive the Medicare Rebate requires that you visit a doctor and get a Mental Health Care Plan. This means that the doctor declares you are diagnosed as having a mental illness. I do not view most people as having mental illnesses although of course there is a continuum from mild to severe. This mental health diagnosis becomes a permanent part of your medical record, and with the increasing ability for today’s technology to share information, it is becoming increasingly easy for our medical records to affect other areas of our lives such as the legal system, insurance, some health care facilities and perhaps even employment related situations.

Although the Medicare Rebate provides an amount you can claim back psychologists, who use this system, charge a much higher rate than counsellors (the Australian Psychological Society recommends psychologists charge $300 for 50 minutes). If your psychologist charges that recommended rate, the gap between what you pay and what you get back is greater than the cost of counselling. The Medicare Rebate accessed via the Mental Health Care Plan provides for 6-10 sessions per calendar year (and then the cost to you increases by the rebate amount). You may be doing yourself a disservice to limit your time of therapy to 6-10 sessions. Now that most of us are paying for our doctor’s appointments this adds another cost. You may be doing yourself a disservice to limit your time of therapy to 6-10 sessions.

Due to financial considerations getting a Mental Health Care Plan might be your choice but it is worth understanding the system.

If you have private health insurance, the following private health insurers provide amounts claimable for counselling depending on the insurer: BUPA, Medibank Private (a number of their plans), ahm, Police and Emergency Services health funds. The Australian Regional Health Group (ARHG) represent a number of smaller, regional health funds. The funds currently offering rebates for counselling and psychotherapy are St Luke’s Health, Police Health, GMHBA, Westfund, Emergency Services Health, Phoenix Health and CUA Health. The rebates available will depend on the individual health funds.