Veterans eligible to be provided with treatment
85 Veterans eligible to be provided with treatment
Where a determination under this Act is in force determining that an injury suffered by a veteran is a war‑caused injury or that a disease contracted by a veteran is a war‑caused disease, the veteran is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for that injury or disease from and including:
the date as from which a pension, or increased pension, is granted to the veteran under Part II in respect of his or her incapacity from that injury or disease; or
the date as from which such a pension or increased pension would have been granted to the veteran if the extent of the incapacity of the veteran from the injury or disease had not been insufficient to justify the grant of, or increase of, a pension under Part II.
A veteran might stop being eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for an injury or disease if the veteran is entitled to treatment under the MRCA for the injury or disease (see section 85A of this Act).
A veteran is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for malignant neoplasia or pulmonary tuberculosis from and including the date that is 3 months before the date on which the application to be provided with that treatment is lodged at an office of the Department in Australia in accordance with section 5T.
A veteran or other person may be eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for mental health conditions (such as post‑traumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorder or substance use disorder) and other conditions under a determination made under section 88A.
Note 1A: A veteran or other person may be eligible to be provided with treatment, being treatment that is the provision of services under the program established by the Commonwealth and known as the Veteran Suicide Prevention pilot, in accordance with section 88B.
A veteran might stop being eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for an injury or disease if the veteran is entitled to treatment under the MRCA for the injury or disease (see section 85A of this Act).
A person is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for an injury (within the meaning of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence‑related Claims) Act 1988) if, as a result of table item 3 of the table in subsection 144B(3) of that Act, this subsection applies to the person and the injury.
Where a veteran:
is in receipt of a pension under Part II at the general rate or at a higher rate; or
is in receipt of a pension under Part II in respect of incapacity from a war‑caused injury or a war‑caused disease of a kind described in column 1 of the table in subsection 27(1);
the veteran is eligible to be provided, from and including the date as from which a pension is so payable to the veteran, with treatment under this Part for any injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act.
Where:
a veteran rendered, while a member of the Defence Force, continuous full‑time service during World War 1;
a female veteran rendered, while a member of the Defence Force, service of the kind referred to in subparagraph 7A(1)(a)(i) during the period referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of period of hostilities in subsection 5B(1);
before the MRCA commencement date a veteran was, while a member of the Defence Force, a prisoner of war during a war to which this Act applies or while serving on operational service; or
the veteran is a person who was an eligible civilian within the meaning of subsection 5C(1) and was, while he or she was such a civilian, detained by the enemy during World War 2;
the veteran is eligible to be provided, from and including the date on which the veteran’s application to be provided with treatment is lodged at an office of the Department in Australia in accordance with section 5T, with treatment under this Part for any injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act.
A veteran is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for any injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, if:
the veteran is 70 or over; and
the veteran has rendered qualifying service during the period covered by paragraph (b) of the definition of period of hostilities in subsection 5B(1); and
either:
the Department has notified the veteran in writing that he or she is or will be eligible for such treatment; or
the veteran has, by written document lodged at an office of the Department in Australia in accordance with section 5T, notified the Department that he or she seeks eligibility for such treatment.
A veteran is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for any injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, if:
the veteran is 70 or over; and
the veteran has rendered qualifying service within the meaning of subparagraph 7A(1)(a)(ii), (iii), (iv), (v) or (vi) or paragraph 7A(1)(b), (c) or (f); and
either:
the Department has notified the veteran in writing that he or she is or will be eligible for such treatment; or
the veteran has, by written document lodged at an office of the Department in Australia in accordance with section 5T, notified the Department that he or she seeks eligibility for such treatment.
A notification by the veteran under subparagraph (4A)(c)(ii) or (4B)(c)(ii) that is lodged in accordance with section 5T is taken to have been made on a day determined under that section.
A veteran referred to in section 53D is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for any injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act.
Where a veteran:
is in receipt of a pension under Part II at a rate not less than 50 per centum of the general rate; and
is also in receipt of a service pension under Part III;
the veteran is, from and including:
the date as from which that pension under Part II became so payable to the veteran; or
the date as from which that service pension became payable to the veteran;
whichever is the later date, eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for any injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act.
A veteran is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for any injury or disease if:
the veteran is receiving a service pension under Part III; and
an impairment suffered by the veteran from one or more service injuries or diseases constitutes at least 30 impairment points (within the meaning of the MRCA); and
the treatment is provided after both paragraphs (a) and (b) begin to apply to the veteran; and
the veteran is not already being provided with treatment for any injury or disease under Chapter 6 of the MRCA.
Where a service pension is suspended, the Commission may, by instrument in writing, determine, for the purposes of the application of the provisions of this section to and in relation to the person to whom the pension was granted, that that person shall be treated as if he or she were continuing to receive that pension during the period, or a specified part of the period, of the suspension.
Where:
a veteran, while a member of the Defence Force, rendered continuous full‑time service outside Australia in the area described in item 4 or 8 of Schedule 2 (in column 1) while that area was an operational area, whether or not the veteran rendered that service:
as a member of a unit of the Defence Force that was allotted for duty; or
as a person who was allotted for duty;
in that area; and
the Commission is satisfied that the veteran requires urgent treatment for an injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran, whether before or after the commencement of this Act;
the veteran is eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for that injury or disease:
at a hospital formerly operated and maintained by the Commission, if the Commission is satisfied that provision of that treatment will not adversely affect the capacity of the person operating the hospital to provide treatment at that hospital for veterans eligible to be provided with treatment by virtue of a preceding subsection or dependants of veterans eligible to be provided with treatment by virtue of subsection 86(1), (2), (3) or (4);
at a hospital in a country area of a State operated by that State, being a hospital in respect of which the Commission has entered into arrangements of a kind referred to in paragraph 89(1)(b); or
at a hospital in a Territory, being a hospital operated by the Commonwealth or the Government of that Territory in respect of which the Commission has entered into arrangements of a kind referred to in paragraph 89(1)(b).
Where a veteran has been provided with treatment at a hospital under subsection (9) for an injury or disease, the Commission may provide further treatment for that injury or disease otherwise than at a hospital of a kind referred to in that subsection if it is of the opinion that that further treatment is desirable.
Where a veteran would, but for the operation of section 26, 30C, 30D or 74, be in receipt of a pension under Part II:
at a rate referred to in paragraph (3)(a) or (7)(a) of this section; or
in respect of incapacity of a kind referred to in paragraph (3)(b) of this section;
subsection (3) or (7), as the case requires, of this section applies to the veteran as if the veteran were in receipt of that pension.
Where a veteran is, under a preceding subsection of this section, eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for an injury suffered, or disease contracted, by the veteran from and including a particular date and is also, under another preceding subsection of this section, eligible to be provided with treatment under this Part for that injury or disease from and including an earlier date, the Commission may arrange for the veteran to be provided with treatment for that injury or disease from and including that earlier date.
If:
immediately before 1 January 2017, a veteran was receiving a service pension under Part III; and
the Commission is satisfied that the rate of that pension is nil on 1 January 2017 because of the operation of the amendments made by Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Pensions) Act 2015;
then, for the purposes of paragraph (7)(b) or (7A)(a), on and after 1 January 2017 the veteran is taken to be receiving a service pension under Part III.
If:
a veteran begins to receive a veteran payment on a day; and
on the day before that day the veteran was receiving a service pension under Part III;
then, for the purposes of paragraph (7)(b) or (7A)(a), the veteran is taken to be receiving a service pension under Part III while the veteran is receiving that veteran payment.
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