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The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) can give self-funded retirees who do not qualify for a government Age Pension or Department of Veteran Affairs payment the entitlements that others receive from the Pensioner Concession Card.
The CSHC is a concession card to get cheaper health care and some discounts if you’ve reached Age Pension age.
To get this you must:
have reached Age Pension age
not qualify for a payment from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
be under the income test limit (there is no assets test)
be an Australian resident currently living in Australia.
The income test will look at both your adjusted taxable income and a deemed amount from account based income streams.
To pass the income test, you must earn no more than the following:
$55,808 a year if you’re single, $89,290 a year for couples, $111,616 a year for couples separated by illness, respite care or prison. Add $639.60 to these amounts for each child in your care. There is no assets test.
Account based income streams are part of the income test. Account based income streams include account based pensions and account based annuities. The balance of an account based income stream is subject to deeming. Deeming assumes that financial investments are earning a certain rate of income. Read more about deeming here.
With your card you can get:
cheaper medicine under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
bulk billed doctor visits - this is up to your doctor
a bigger refund for medical costs when you reach the Medicare Safety Net
Other discounts such as concessional rail travel and extra health, household and transport discounts are on offer at the discretion of state, territory or local governments and sometimes private businesses.
Read more about what you can get where you live on the Australian Gov website.
If you think you might be eligible for a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, give the Verve Group team a call on (08) 8120 4877 or book an initial consultation online and we can review your circumstances.