Who Gets MyMedicare and When? Patient Characteristics and the Likelihood of Registration
Melbourne Institute Working Paper No. 01/26
Date: January 2026
Author(s):
Abstract
Objectives: To describe the characteristics of patients who have registered with MyMedicare in its first two years between October 2023 and September 2025, and whether patient characteristics differ by timing of registration. Study design: Retrospective cohort study using routinely collected general practice electronic health records, with binary and multinomial logistic regression models. Participants and setting: Active patients across 350 general practices in the Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network: 178,821 patients who registered with MyMedicare between October 2023 and September 2025, and 1,125,375 patients not-yet-registered by September 2025. Main outcome measures: A binary indicator of MyMedicare registration (ever registered vs not-yet-registered by September 2025) and a categorical measure for timing of registration (not yet registered, early (October 2023–September 2024), mid (October 2024–June 2025), and late (July–September 2025)). Results: MyMedicare registration was associated with older age (OR 1.01 per year; 95%CI1.01–1.01), being female (male OR 0.87; 95%CI 0.86–0.88), living in a relatively socioeconomically advantaged area (OR 1.02; 95%CI 1.01–1.03), and having a chronic condition (OR 1.35; 95%CI 1.33–1.37). Registrants had higher general practice utilisation in the 12 months prior to the national introduction of MyMedicare, including higher face-to-face consultations (OR 1.05 per consult; 95%CI 1.05–1.05), telehealth consultations (OR 1.04 per consult; 95%CI 1.04–1.04), and prescriptions issued (OR 1.01 per prescription; 95%CI 1.01–1.01), with referrals weakly negatively associated with registration (OR 0.99 per referral; 95%CI 0.99–0.99). These patterns of patient characteristics generally held across registration timing, with the strongest gradients for early registrants. Conclusion: MyMedicare registration in Eastern Melbourne has so far been concentrated among patients that are older, female, relatively socioeconomically advantaged, have a chronic condition, and are already engaged with general practice care. Equity in registration across age, gender and socioeconomic status may need to be closely monitored.
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