Medicare Healthy Kids Check for three-year-olds starts today: what's checked, what it costs, and how it fits with Victoria's 3.5-year MCH visit

By The Rundowns News Desk · Published 1 November 2026

From today, 1 November 2026, every Medicare-eligible three-year-old in Australia can get a new Medicare Healthy Kids Check with a GP. It's a once-in-a-lifetime developmental and health assessment and the first on-the-ground piece of the federal government's Thriving Kids program, which is designed to support children with developmental concerns outside the NDIS. Here's what's checked, what it might cost, and how it sits alongside Victoria's free 3.5-year Maternal and Child Health visit.

What happened

The new check went onto the Medicare Benefits Schedule today. According to the MBS factsheet, GPs bill it under the existing time-tiered health assessment items (701 to 707), and other prescribed medical practitioners use items 224 to 227. It's available once per child per lifetime. Both the factsheet and the ABC confirm this.

The ABC and the RACGP's newsGP both note that a Medicare-funded check for this age group is returning more than a decade after the previous four-year-old Healthy Kids Check was axed in 2015.

What the GP will check

The MBS factsheet sets out the minimum the assessment must include:

• History: medical history, immunisation status, allergies, medications and any hospital admissions.
• Development and behaviour: behaviours and wellbeing, plus an assessment against age-appropriate developmental milestones.
• Family and daily life: family relationships, care arrangements and whether the child attends early childhood education and care. It also covers nutrition, physical activity, screen use, sleep and toileting (bowel habits and continence).
• Physical examination: eyesight, hearing, and teeth and gums, plus height, weight and BMI plotted against growth charts.
• Follow-up: advice for parents, any interventions or referrals, and the offer of a written report with recommendations.

The ABC says referrals could range from speech therapists to playgroups. RACGP's Dr Tim Jones, who helped design the check, told the ABC it should help pick up "a lot of the kids who don't have really obvious disability, but who do need a bit more out of the [health] system".

Why age three?

Most key developmental milestones are expected in the first three years. The ABC reports the RACGP's figure that more than one in five children have at least one developmental vulnerability by age three. The MBS factsheet says the check was recommended by the Thriving Kids Advisory Group and supported by a House of Representatives committee inquiry into Thriving Kids.

Will it be bulk billed?

Not guaranteed. The ABC reports that the government will support practices to bulk bill the check through existing incentives. Independent MP and paediatrician Dr Monique Ryan said there's no certainty a family won't be charged a gap. Our advice is to ask the practice about fees when you book. Practices in the federal Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program have to bulk bill eligible services for all their Medicare-eligible patients, so a fully bulk-billing clinic is your safest bet.

The concerns

• GP access. Dr Ryan told the ABC that experts had recommended nurses and allied health professionals also be able to deliver the check, but the government limited it to GPs. Many areas already struggle to get GP appointments.
• Screening without services. RACP paediatrics president Dr Niroshini Kennedy told the ABC there's a risk of "identifying children but not matching them with timely intervention". The ABC reports that many of the state- and territory-run Thriving Kids supports aren't expected until January 2028.

What it means in Victoria

Victorian families already have a free state check at about this age. The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) 3.5-year Key Ages and Stages visit is the 10th and final scheduled visit and is due when your child is between 3.5 and 4.5 years old. An MCH nurse reviews growth, health and development, does a vision screen (the Melbourne Initial Screening Test) and goes through the PEDS-R questions in the green book. The visit also covers kinder enrolment, teeth, nutrition and immunisations. The MCH service is free for all Victorian families regardless of Medicare or visa status. Book through your local council.

Our reading: the two are different services, a GP check under Medicare and a nurse visit funded by the state. Nothing in the MBS factsheet says having one rules out the other. If you have concerns, the GP check could flag something at three, and the MCH visit gives a second look closer to kinder. Check with your GP or MCH nurse how they'll share results. If you're worried about your child's development before or after these checks, you don't need to wait. Book a normal GP appointment or call the MCH Line on 13 22 29, which runs 24 hours.

What's next

The health department's Thriving Kids timeline lists the Medicare check as the November 2026 milestone. Other supports follow, and the ABC says many of them aren't due until 2028. newsGP says the RACGP is running a webinar for GPs on the check on 26 November. We'll update this explainer as Victorian Thriving Kids services are announced.

This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your GP or MCH nurse about your child.