Low Income Health Care Card Info!

13.2.2025 by Kaab Qureshi

Are you struggling financially, on a low income or stressed about affording parking due to the significant increases? 

If you have a Low Income Health Care Card (LIHC), you are entitled to support available from the ANU and the government. This list compiles the support services available to LIHC card holders. 

A LIHC is used to prove financial struggle. It is a simple process and applications typically take about 30 days to process. Instructions on how to apply for a LIHC can be found here.

To be eligible for a LIHC you must:

  • Make less than $783 a week.
  • Be 19 or older (Under 19 eligibility is possible if you’re deemed independent or eligible for Family Tax Benefit).
  • Be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident (some visas are accepted — check here). 

ANU INITIATIVES

(For some reason, you must be a domestic undergrad student to access any of this. Ridiculous.)

Students can apply for ANU initiatives here. They include:

  • Free student life surface parking permit at ANU
  • $150 textbook grant a semester
  • $150 student support grant a semester
  • Free 12 months ANU Sport membership
  • Free Griffin Hall membership (off-campus students)
  • Access to Community Connect Food Relief

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

  • Free Ambulances
  • Free public transport off-peak: on weekdays from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, after 6:00 pm, and all day on weekends and public holidays
  • 100 per cent off the registration fees of your motor vehicle registration (roughly 50-60 per cent of the total amount) 
  • Greater access to bulk-billed GPs
  • Access to Canberra Health Services Public Dental
  • $200 spectacles subsidy from participating optometrists
  • Access to concession rate co-payments for  PBS scheduled medications ($7.70 instead of the usual $31.60 maximum cost)
  • PBS Safety Net reduced to $277 from the regular $1,694 (this is how much you pay for PBS medications). After you’ve spent $277 with a LIHC — further PBS medication is 100% free.

THIRD-PARTY INITIATIVES 

P.S.

Services Australia will give you a physical card — it is made from paper. You can access a digital card from the Centrelink App.

Resources like the Community Connect Food Relief and Parking support are likely limited, so bear this in mind if applying without genuine need.

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.

Something else?