Health Cost Benefits

HICAPS

HICAPS (Health Insurance Claims And Payments System) is available at ICU. If you are a member of a health insurance fund, such as MBF or dozens of others, you may have a HICAPS card. This looks like a credit card and has a magnetic strip on the back. It behaves like a charge card, in that whenever you require glasses or contact lenses, we can use your card to bill your fund directly.

Our HICAPS terminal immediately tells us how much your fund will contribute towards your glasses, so all you pay is the gap (if there is one).

The great convenience of HICAPS is that you don't have to go chasing your health fund for a refund after paying for your glasses or contact lenses; it's all done for you at the practice.

Medicare Refunds

Nobody likes lining up at a Medicare office in their lunchtime to claim their refund, especially when the line is out the door. At ICU, we will process your refund request for you. We will ask you to sign a Medicare refund form and we'll fill in the rest. All you need to do then is wait for your cheque to arrive, which takes approximately 3 weeks. In most cases, your refund will be 85% of your consultation fee. The cheque should be made out to YOU, not to us. If for any reason it's made out to us, please bring it in and we'll endorse it over to you. We do take several measures to tell Medicare that your account has been PAID, but they do make occasional errors.

To save your having to line up at the bank to deposit your cheque, you may opt to have Medicare deposit your refund directly into your account. This is simple. We'd ask you to fill in the details of your account (including BSB & branch numbers), and your refund will be deposited in about 3 working days.

Medicare has now made a service available whereby they will keep your bank account details in their system, saving you from having to re-enter them on the green form.

Very soon we'll be able to process your Medicare refund into your credit card account on the spot.

Bulk Billing Services

For most of our patients, our appointments are privately charged, and Medicare refunds are available. In most cases, you will receive 85% of your consultation fee as a refund from Medicare. Your net out-of-pocket expense will be under $10 for a comprehensive consultation. For most contact lens fittings, no Medicare refund is available. Please see our section on Contact Lenses: Fitting & Fees.

For our patients who possess a pension card, health care card, or are current students at the Rainworth State School, we will happily bulk bill your consultation fee to Medicare. This means no out-of-pocket expense and just requires your signature on a bulk-billing form.

DVA Gold Card holders' consultations are bulk-billed to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

DVA - Free Glasses

If you are a Department of Veterans' Affairs Gold Card holder, you are entitled to free glasses every two years. These are available through ICU and we carry an extensive range of frames from which you can choose. If you've lost or damaged your previous DVA glasses, and it's been less than 2 years, repairs or replacements can still be made at no charge. Similarly, if your prescription has changed within the 2-year period and you can't see well through your last glasses, you can have your replacement lenses within 2 years.

Your glasses will be ready within a few days. Some frames within the DVA range carry a surcharge (for example, some titanium frames), but most are completely free of charge.

Free Glasses through the Hospital System

If you are a pensioner or if you have a Health Care Card, you are entitled to free "hospital" glasses every 2 years. The system works like this:

First, you need to have an eye test. This is bulk-billed to Medicare, so it doesn't cost you anything at all.

We would then help you to select a frame from the hospital range. The hospital range is reasonably limited, but quite serviceable.

If you need both distance and reading glasses, these will both be provided at no charge. If you would prefer bifocals, these can also be provided. The hospital system will approve EITHER bifocals OR distance and/or reading glasses. You can't have bifocals AND another pair.

Until recent months, the next step involved your visiting the Royal Brisbane Hospital to have the process rubber-stamped. Lately though, the system has been changed and all the administration is done via fax from ICU Optometrist.

This of course has made the whole process easier and more attractive for people all over Brisbane, and the backlog of hospital glasses has gone through the roof. It unfortunately now takes 7 weeks for the glasses to arrive back at the practice for you to pick up. We're hoping this will decrease as the new system's kinks are ironed out.

When your glasses arrive at ICU, we will phone you to let you know they've arrived.

You can choose to have a hard coat, tint, anti-reflective and/or ultra-violet protective coating on your hospital glasses. You can even have Transitions lenses, which go darker in the sun. These extras are not covered by the hospital system and will incur a small charge.

Discounts for Pensioners

You may wish to bypass the free hospital glasses scheme. If you would prefer a different frame or style of spectacle lens than those available through the hospital system, you are welcome to choose from our wide selection. You may also prefer to have your glasses back in days rather than weeks or months (don't get me started).

If you'd like to bypass the free hospital glasses scheme, we will offer you a 10% discount on frames and spectacle lenses if you have a pension or Health Care Card. We have frames available from $99 and single-vision lenses from $90. With your 10% discount, this means you can have reading or distance glasses from under $200. Your glasses will be back within a few days.