Medicare call hours slashed after damning review into wait times

A big change is coming to how Australians will access their Medicare services in 2025.

Service Australia has revealed a major change to how millions of Australians will access Medicare in the new year.

Australians can currently access the Medicare program and Medicare telephone claims lines at anytime, day or night.

From January 2, those hours will be cut back to Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm, and 7am to 7pm on weekends.

In a statement, Services Australia said the change to its program comes after an evaluation of the current telephone system.

“We regularly evaluate our business practices to make sure we’re delivering our services efficiently and effectively,” a spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

A major change is coming to how Australians will access Medicare in 2025. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“A review of the 24-hour Medicare program and Medicare telephone claims lines found they have an exceptionally low call volume after hours and on weekends.”

The government agency said a review of its current system found less than one per cent of calls came through outside the operating hours taking effect next year.

“This change will allow us to reallocate staff to priority Medicare work, such as processing claims and answering calls on other 24-hour lines,” the spokesperson said.

Medicare customers can continue to use the online service 24 hours a day.

It comes after it was revealed in July call wait times at Medicare and Centrelink had ballooned, with more than 11 million going unanswered in the year to April.

Originally published as Medicare call hours slashed after damning review into wait times