You must report the number of days that everyone – you, your spouse and all your dependents – had appropriate private patient hospital coverage.
If your income for MLS purposes is greater than the MLS threshold and you have appropriate private hospital cover, you will only be exempt from the MLS if your spouse and your dependents are either:
- in a Medicare levy exemption category
- covered by appropriate private patient hospital cover.
Three things you need to confirm when completing your tax return:
- your spouse’s income for MLS purposes,
- the status of any dependents matches the private hospital insurance policy – for example, a couples or a singles policy may not appropriately cover dependents, and
- whether private patient hospital cover is held for the whole family, for the full period.
A dependant for MLS purposes is under 21 years of age, or under 25 if they are a full-time student. This definition may vary from your health insurance policy.
If you’re not entitled to Medicare benefits and you’re claiming the Medicare levy exemption, you will need a Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) from Services Australia before you lodge your tax return. You will only be able to claim the full Medicare levy exemption if your spouse is also in an exemption category and they are not entitled to any private health insurance rebate.
For more information, see Medicare and private health insurance on the ATO website.