Services Australia is holding $274.5 million in Medicare benefits it has approved but cannot pay, money owed to 974,000 people for whom the agency has no current bank account details.
The average amount owed is about $280. The largest single group is the youngest: more than $65 million is payable to 255,000 people aged between 18 and 24.
The money is not in dispute. In each case the claim has been processed and the benefit calculated. Medicare pays into a nominated account, and where that account has been closed, changed or never supplied, the payment has nowhere to go and sits with the agency.
Services Australia gives that as the reason for the whole backlog. Its general manager, Hank Jongen, has said the funds are unclaimed because the agency does not hold the person's account details, and that people in every state and territory and every age group are affected.
The step to release the money falls on the person owed. Services Australia can identify who is owed and how much, but it will not transfer anything until an account is supplied. Bank details can be updated in the Medicare online account through myGov or the Express Plus Medicare app, by calling 132 011, or at a service centre. Payment follows within days.
A benefit already assessed and approved stays with the department until the individual initiates the transfer. The department's remedy for a backlog of nearly $275 million is a public request that people go and check.
The 18 to 24 bracket carries the largest share of it. That $65 million across 255,000 people works out at roughly $255 each, slightly under the national average.
Checking takes a few minutes. Sign in to myGov, open the Medicare service, and look at the bank details held against the account. If they are current and nothing is owed, the check costs nothing but the time.
