Carer Allowance & Health Care Card
A Health Care Card can help with the costs of medications.
Caring for a child with a chronic condition might put a strain on your family budget. To offset part of the cost of medications and therapies there is a Carer Allowance.
Carer Allowance is a supplementary payment for parents or carers who provide daily care and attention for children under 16 with a disability or severe medical condition at home.
According to Section 5 of the Medical Report a qualifier for Carer’s Allowance is “Polyarticular course Juvenile Arthritis requiring regular multi-disciplinary therapy, including immunosuppressive medication.” Patients that do not automatically qualify are assessed by a ‘functional assessment.’
- This payment is not subject to an income test.
- This payment is not subject to an assets test.
This payment rate is effective from 20 March 2009 is $105.10 per fortnight. Your child will be issued with a health care card which will reduce the cost of medications.
To apply-
You can register an intent to claim for Carer Allowance and /or Carer Payment. This will ensure you are paid from the earliest possible date. Once you have registered your intent to claim, a Centrelink Customer Service Officer will contact you within 2 days to assist you with your claim. You can also register an intent to claim by visiting any Centrelink Customer Service Centre, or by telephoning Centrelink on 13 2717. If you cannot telephone yourself, someone else can telephone Centrelink for you, so you can register your intent to claim as soon as possible.
Hospital Option
Carer Allowance forms are available from the Social Work Department at PMH and can be picked up from here to speed up the process (rather than waiting for Centrelink to forward) The Social Work Department encourage families to make their own photocopies particularly of the medical report they send to Centrelink, and record the date that the application is sent. This can be important if Centrelink misplace forms which has happened.
Centrelink will forward forms for you to get completed.
- Claim for Carer Allowance and/or Carer Payment Caring for a Child under 16 years. This form is several pages long. There are several proof of identity documents that need to be presented when you lodge your document at Centrelink. They will be copied and returned to you. Your forms will all be checked. If any of the support documents are missing the application will not be accepted so check very carefully that you have all the correct bits.
- Medical Report – Carer Allowance for a child under 16 years – this is to be taken to your GP or specialist who will complete it and return it for you to lodge with your application – this process might take several days.
Money photo courtesy of siansparkles at Flickr Creative Commons.
