Allied Health Rebate Calculator

Understanding allied health rebates in Australia

Two rebate pathways, never both at once

Your out-of-pocket for allied health is the clinic’s fee minus a rebate, and which rebate you get depends entirely on the pathway you came in through. There are two, and you cannot use both for the same visit: a Medicare care plan referred by your GP, or a claim through your private health insurance extras cover. Most people who walk in off the street without a referral and without extras pay the full fee, because Medicare does not rebate allied health on its own the way it does a standard GP consult. The fee itself varies by discipline and city, but as a 2026 guide a physio session runs $90 to $110, an exercise physiology or podiatry session $90 to $100, dietetics $100 to $130, chiropractic $70 to $90, and psychology $220 to $280. Knowing your pathway before you book is what turns those numbers into a much smaller gap.

The chronic-disease pathway (physical health)

For ongoing physical conditions the route is a GP Chronic Condition Management plan, the current name for what used to be called a Chronic Disease Management or Enhanced Primary Care plan. Your GP prepares it for a condition expected to last six months or more (think osteoarthritis, diabetes, chronic back pain), and it unlocks up to five Medicare-rebated allied health visits per calendar year, combined across every allied health provider you see. That is five visits total, not five per discipline, so a year split between physio and a podiatrist draws on the same pool. The Medicare rebate is roughly $60 to $62 per session in 2026, so on a $95 physio appointment your gap drops to around $33, but only for those five visits. Once they are used, you are back to the full fee or your extras rebate for the rest of the year.

The Better Access pathway (psychology)

Mental health runs on an entirely separate and more generous scheme called Better Access, started by a GP Mental Health Treatment Plan (or a referral from a psychiatrist or paediatrician). This gives up to 10 individually Medicare-rebated sessions per calendar year, reviewed by your GP after the first few. The rebate is about $96 to $99 per session for a registered psychologist and around $141 to $145 for a clinical psychologist in 2026. Because typical psychology fees sit at $220 to $280, a real gap of $100 to $160 often remains even with the rebate, which is why many clients seek out bulk-billing psychologists (who charge exactly the rebate, leaving no gap), reduced-fee community services, or telehealth options. Some clinics also offer concession rates. The 10 sessions reset each calendar year, so timing matters if you are mid-course in December.

When extras is the better lever

If you have no care plan, or you have used up your Medicare-rebated visits for the year, private health extras is the fallback. Extras typically rebate a smaller fixed amount per visit, often $20 to $50 for physio, chiro, podiatry and dietetics depending on your policy and your remaining annual limit, and psychology extras rebates are usually modest too. Most policies also cap the number of visits or total dollars per year for each modality, and some apply a waiting period of two to twelve months before you can claim, so it is worth checking your cover before assuming the rebate is there. The practical strategy most people use is to spend the Medicare-rebated visits first because the rebate is larger, then switch to extras for further sessions in the same year. You cannot stack the two on one visit, so on any given appointment you choose the pathway that leaves the smaller gap.

What this means for the clinic and the client

For the clinic, being clear at booking about which pathway a client is on, and proactively flagging whether they might qualify for a GP care plan, is the difference between a client who completes a course of treatment and one who drops out over cost after the first invoice surprises them. A short script at intake (do you have a referral, a care plan, or extras cover) lets reception quote the likely gap honestly and lets the practitioner plan a course of treatment the client can actually afford to finish. For the client, the single highest-value move is to ask your GP whether your condition qualifies for a Chronic Condition Management plan or, for mental health, a Mental Health Treatment Plan, because that referral is what unlocks the larger Medicare rebate in the first place. Bulk-billing and reduced-fee options also exist across most disciplines, particularly through community health services, public hospital outpatient clinics and university teaching clinics, which can be far cheaper than a private practice for those on a tight budget. These figures are indicative, so confirm your fee with the clinic, your eligibility with your GP, and the current rebate amounts with Services Australia or your fund.