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Major Australian Healthcare Insurance Companies Now Support Apple Wallet
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Don’t feel too bad guys, in the US we still need physical cards for everything on your list. Some states have drivers license covered but you can only use it in that state for a few things, its not universal. I can get my insurance card via an app but they want the physical card to scan at visit check in. The major store I shop at for groceries and home improvement dont take Apple Pay and the other places that do when you use it the employee half the time looks at you like you just performed a magic trick. We have so much “never going to change” that it may never change but it will. Good for you guys being able to go without physical cards, I have been dreaming of the day. I dont want a car key either.
Victoria Police have already stated on the record that digital licences from interstate will be accepted.
I think maybe it’s a different type of card that’s now able to be added?
Outside of that though, I also don’t see the big deal. I’ve worked in health care admin in the US at multiple hospitals in different states and every one of them verifies active coverage online before the visits, or while people are standing at the check in desk.
They are also able to find what insurance 99.9% of its patient population has without having the physical card. Even when showing your insurance card, they’re still going to verify if it’s active anyways. Having the card sometimes saves a few seconds or a minute, but not much time overall.
All I do is add my insurances name, ID and phone number inside the notes section of my own contact. I would never use an Apple Wallet(any wallet) spot on an insurance card.
Im sure there are smaller offices and such that don’t do it this way, but this is how the vast majority of hospitals operate.
Australian private insurance is vastly different to the US one. Our private health insurance only covers elective surgery and things like dental, optical, massages.....etc. It doesn't cover hospital as that is call covered by the public system.
Nice, I’ll need Myki being based in Melbourne myself, can’t see that coming any time soon.
You have a large wallet, what else you go in there?
TfNSW is leading the way when it comes to public transport. They're partnering with Uber so you'll soon be able to get a discount on your train/bus/light rail fare if you use an Uber to a train station or bus stop.
It's not the size of my wallet, it's what I do with it. LOL
Lucky for me I normally cycle everywhere, but yeah I have a car key. No house keys though, smart lock and smart garage door.
What about drivers license, firearms license, pilot license, company ID, professional charter/license (e.g. doctor), etc.?
I don’t doubt that, but I would find it hard to believe there isn’t a website similar to what is in the US to find and verify benefits.
I actually left that part out, but since you mentioned it I can elaborate. The portal all of the hospitals I’ve worked at can also tell you if that particular insurance covers dental, optical, massages(rarely) etc like you mentioned.
Insurance in the US is a complete joke, but for this specific addition to the iPhone, I don’t see how necessary it could be.
It just seems crazy to me you can walk into an office, show them an insurance card and they take that as meaning it’s active coverage.
Drivers licence is now digital in about half of Australian states now.
Firearms licence - 3% of our population have firearms. This is one of the last licences to be digitised. Fishing, boating, responsible gabling/alcohol have already been migrated.
Pilot licences are also digital. This is at a Federal level.
Company ID - I've never needed one. Most people get access card; something I still carry.
AFAIK Doctors don't carry physical (card) licences here.
That is the method to add a health insurance card into Apple Wallet, through the relevant health app.
Sweet! There better be posts for every single country then.. all 195 countries. And then another 195 posts when their car insurance companies start supporting it xD
390 posts sorted
/s
Many of the Hicaps machines don’t have NFC, and they take forever to update them. Which means many people with Bupa et al will still need their card.
Drivers license has been available a few years in NSW.
As for all the other things you mention. 99% of adults don’t have them, or don’t need to carry them daily.
I think the gist of the article is that Australian healthcare uses a different network (of sorts) that not Visa, AMEX or Mastercard.
HiCaps (health payments network) is used by ALL healthcare providers in Australia. This means we're not limited to certain hospitals, optometrists, dentists.....etc. For example I can go to any dentist, tap my iPhone, and get the benefits (fee) paid to them directly. So my dentist doesn't have to bother logging into a portal and admin.
I'm making the assumption that in America you can't choose your own provider unless it's part of your health insurers network.
This is the standard HiCaps machine. It's like a usual EFTPOS terminal. They already have NFC built in. Maybe Bupa are the only exception.
If I go to the dentist, reception can swipe my private health insurance card and work out what I will be covered for.
After my appointment , they swipe the card, put in the service provided code and the health fund pays them instantly and I only have to pay the gap (if there is one).
This just means that instead of carrying my card, I can use my phone instead which is great since I don't carry a wallet and I have to remember to take my private health insurance card each time I go to an appointment for something covered under private health insurance.
Ok that makes sense then, since your HiCaps seems to do the benefit verification right there.
And yes you are right that you can’t choose your own provider/facility unless they are in your network. You would NEVER believe the main argument here against Universal Healthcare is that you would “lose the ability to choose your own provider” without people realizing they lost that ability decades ago.