Commonwealth Seniors Health Card

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card may provide a range of benefits and concessions to people who have reached Age Pension age, but don’t qualify for an income support payment. A recent change to the income limit could mean that you’re eligible to apply.

What is the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card?

The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) is a concession card that provides a range of benefits and concessions. The card is issued by:

• Centrelink to eligible people who have reached their Age Pension age, but don’t qualify for a payment from Centrelink, or
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) including for veterans with qualifying service¹, war widow(er)¹ and eligibility partners.

Once you’ve been issued with the card, it is valid for 12 months, and is renewed if you continue to meet the eligibility rules.

Benefits and concessions available

A range of benefits and concessions are available to cardholders, including:

• bulk billed doctor visits at the clinic’s discretion, and reduced medical costs, and
• certain State, Territory and Local Government concessions such as: a discount on utility bills, property and water rates concessional rates on public transport, and discounted motor vehicle registration.

 Many of the benefits and concessions available to CSHC holders are state or territory based. Read about concessions available from your state or territory Government on their websites by clicking the below: 

• Australian Capital Territory - ACT Assistance
• New South Wales – NSW Government Community Support 
• Northern Territory - NT Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme 
• Queensland - Concessions 
• South Australia - Disability concessions and entitlements 
• Tasmania - Discounts & concessions 
• Victoria – Concessions & benefits 
• Western Australia – Concessions WA

 Also, if you meet certain requirements, you may also be eligible to be issued with the Low Income Health Card in addition to the CSHC. See below for more information. 

Am I eligible?

In addition to having reached your Age Pension age (currently 66.5) or service pension age for veterans who have qualifying service (currently 60), you must also meet some other requirements. These include that you:

• have income below the income test threshold
• be residing in Australia, be an Australian resident, a holder of a permanent residency visa or a holder of a Special Category Visa²
• not be receiving a Government pension or a benefit or an income support supplement from the DVA, and
• quote your tax file number (and partner’s tax file number if applicable).

Income test limits³

The income test limits have recently increased. The table below shows, based on your family situation, the ‘adjusted taxable income’ limits. 

Please note, adjusted taxable income includes:

• taxable income⁴
• target foreign income
• total net investment losses
• employer-provided fringe benefits (in excess of $1,000)
• reportable superannuation contributions (ie salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions), and
• deemed income from account-based pensions (unless the grandfathering rules apply).

If you’re a member of a couple, you need to report your combined income (even if your partner isn’t eligible to apply for the card) and your combined income is below the couple limit.

Providing evidence of income

When you apply for the card, Centrelink/DVA assesses your income based on the ‘reference tax year’. Generally, this is the financial year immediately prior to the year in which you’re applying. For example, if you applied in November 2022, your reference tax year would be the financial year ended 30 June 2022.

Centrelink will ask for you to provide your Notice of Assessment for the reference tax year when you lodge your application. If you don’t have your Notice of Assessment from the year prior, you may be able to provide your Notice from two years earlier instead (and this is your reference tax year). If you’re a member of a couple, both you and your partner need to have the same reference tax year.

What if your income has changed?

In some circumstances, your income in the prior year may be considerably different to what your income is likely to be for the current financial year in which you’re applying for the card. This may be the case where you’ve retired or reduced your hours of work, or had a windfall in the prior year due to a specific one-off event, such as selling an investment.

Where this is the case, you may be able to provide an estimate of your income when applying for the CSHC. You’ll need to be able to provide evidence to substantiate the change in your income, and if applicable, that an event which may have caused an increase in income was one-off in nature. Being able to provide an estimate is at the discretion of Centrelink/DVA and based on the explanation you provide with your application form.

Once you have completed your tax return for the year, you’ll then need to provide a copy of your tax Notice of Assessment to Centrelink to confirm your income estimate.

Can I use the card for the benefit of my partner and children?

The CSHC only entitles the cardholder to associated benefits and concessions. Other types of concession cards (such as the Low Income Health Care Card) may entitle the cardholder’s dependants to also benefit.

Low Income Health Card and Seniors Card

You may also be eligible to apply for the Low Income Health Card if your income is also below the eligibility limits that apply to that card. These income limits are a lot lower than the income thresholds that apply for the CSHC, and the type of income that is assessed is different. This card may provide additional concessions and benefits when held with the CSHC. For more information see the Services Australia website.

Reviewing your circumstances

As your circumstances change, it is always a good idea to review your circumstances and consider whether or not you’re eligible for any additional support from the Government. For example, if you’re not eligible for Age Pension today but you are issued with a CSHC, if your income or assets change in the future (and as the income and asset limits for Age Pension are indexed) you may become eligible for a payment.

How to apply

Applications for the CSHC can be submitted in three ways:

• online via myGov
• by calling the Centrelink older Australians line on 132 300 (Monday to Friday 8am- 5pm), or
• by completing a paper form and posting it to Services Australia.

Next steps

To find out more about the CSHC and other benefits, how the rules apply to you and some other things you should think about, speak to your financial adviser. You can also visit servicesaustralia.gov.au or dva.gov.au for more information.

¹ Veterans and war widow(er)s must be 60 or over
² You must have served a newly arrived resident’s waiting period if it applies.
³ If you were an Age Pension recipient and had your payment cancelled on 1 January 2017 as a result of the changes to the asset test limits, you do not need to meet the income test limit for CSHC.
⁴ This doesn’t include any assessable First Home Super Saver scheme released amounts
⁵ These new income thresholds applied from 4th November 2022.

Important information and disclaimer 

This information has been prepared by Actuate Alliance Services Pty Ltd (ABN 40 083 233 925, AFSL 240959) (‘Actuate’), a member of the IOOF group of companies (‘IOOF Group’), for use and distribution by representatives and authorised representatives of Actuate, Godfrey Pembroke Group Pty Limited, Consultum Financial Advisers Pty Ltd, Bridges Financial Services Pty Limited, Bridges Financial Services Pty Limited trading as MLC Advice, Lonsdale Financial Group Ltd, Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Ltd, RI Advice Group Pty Ltd, Shadforth Financial Group Ltd and Australian Financial Services Licensees with whom any IOOF Group member has a commercial services agreement. Information in this document is of a general nature only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should seek personal financial, tax, legal and such other advice as necessary or appropriate before relying on the information or making any financial investment, insurance or other decision. If this information is provided to you in conjunction with a Statement of Advice (‘SOA’), any personal financial advice relevant to the financial planning concept/strategy referred to in this information will be contained in that SOA. 

Information on this page reflects our understanding of relevant regulatory requirements and laws etc as at the date of issue 1 November 2022, which may be subject to change. While care has been taken in preparing this information, no liability is accepted by WMP, nor their agents or employees for any loss arising from any reliance on this information.