Medicare's telephone line will no longer be open around the clock as part of customer service shake-up in 2025.
The change, commencing from January 2, will mean Aussies can only call Medicare from 7am-10pm on weekdays and 7am-7pm on weekends.
It follows an internal review from Services Australia which found only one per cent of all calls received to Medicare came outside of those hours.
A Services Australia spokesperson said the change will help 'reallocate staff to priority Medicare work' such as processing claims or calls on other emergency 24-hour lines.
'We regularly evaluate our business practices to make sure we’re delivering our services efficiently and effectively,' the spokesperson said.
They credited the change to the introduction of Medicare's online claims tracker which has 'helped reduce phone enquiries'.
The online service, which will remain accessible 24/7, has been used 'more than 1.8 million times in an average of 12 seconds per check'.