Nick Bruining: Patchy income or retired early? You might qualify for Centrelink’s Low Income Health Care Card

It’s a concession card available to thousands of eligible Australians — but they’re missing out on the benefits simply because they’re not aware it exists.

The Centrelink-issued Low Income Health Care Card could save you anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands each year.

While those on a basic wage will often qualify, the card is often available to people with patchy income.

That could include tradies, people involved in the gig economy and, particularly, part-time and casual employees. It might also apply to seniors who retire early or reduce their hours, but aren’t yet old enough to receive a pension or other income support payment.

The card is issued by Centrelink on behalf of Services Australia, which also tests for eligibility. For people aged over 18, no asset test applies, with eligibility determined by your weekly income alone.

The limits will vary depending on your family situation and if there are minor dependants involved.

For singles, average gross income over an eight-week period needs to be less than $786 a week — or a total of $6288 — over the same period.

For couples or a single with one dependant, the threshold is $1343 a week — or $10,744 over the eight-week period. Each additional child adds another $34 to the weekly amount.

Once the card has been issued, there’s a 25 per cent additional income buffer before you’re required to stop using it.

In other words, a single with a card could earn up to $982.50 a week before they would have to hand the card back. Similarly, a couple could earn an additional $335.75 or a combined $1678.75 a week. Again, each additional child adds $34 to the qualifying amount.

A family of two adults and three dependent children with family income of less than $11,560 over an eight-week period would qualify for the card. The total income could then increase to $14,450 before losing it.

Families might also qualify for a concession card under other Centrelink benefits including Family Tax Benefit payments and some parenting payments. In some cases, these income test cut-off limits could be higher.

Centrelink-assessable income is different to tax-assessable income.

It includes gross income from employment, net investment property rental receipts and foreign pensions, but the actual earnings of financial investments such as bank accounts, dividends from listed companies or managed fund distributions is ignored.

Instead, Centrelink uses its deeming system to determine the weekly income for the card income test.

All financial assets — which include bank accounts, shares, managed funds, market-based income stream investments, cash and bullion — are deemed to be earning a notional rate of interest set by the government.

Significantly, all of your money held in superannuation accumulation phase is ignored if you are aged under 67. That means if you just miss out you could potentially put some money into super and qualify.

For singles, the first $62,600 of the financial asset total is deemed to be earning 0.25 per cent a year. Above this, it’s 2.25 per cent.

For couples, the low 0.25 per cent rate applies to the first $103,800 of combined financial assets. This total figure is then divided by 52 to give a weekly amount.

A young family with $40,000 of financial assets, for example, has deemed income of just $1.92 a week attributable to its investments.

These deeming rates are the same used for pensions and allowances that have been frozen until July 2025.

Once you receive the Low Income Health Care Card, you or your family’s PBS-listed prescriptions will be just $7.70 per prescription and once you reach $277.20 for the calendar year, you’ll pay no more.

There are other discounts available to cardholders which are provided by State government agencies.

These can include medical costs, transport, utilities, legal fees and dental procedures.