ForHosting KIT · Developer Utilities

Australia Medicare check digit

Australian Medicare cards carry a ten-digit number: eight base digits, one check digit, and one issue number.

● BetaFree · in your browser

Use it from WebAPIEmailTelegramApp soon

A single mistyped digit on a clinic form, practice-management import, or patient portal creates failed claims and support tickets. This capability implements the published Services Australia / Digital Health Agency rule: multiply the first eight digits by the fixed weights one, three, seven, nine, one, three, seven, and nine, sum the products, and take the result modulo ten as the check digit that must equal the ninth position. Use compute mode when you hold only the eight-digit base and need the check digit for a label or test fixture; use validate mode when a partner, scanner, or form submits nine digits (base plus check) or the full ten-digit card including the issue number. The first digit must fall in the published range two through six. Non-numeric input, wrong lengths, and a zero issue number fail with invalid_input instead of a silent false. The same pure arithmetic powers the free browser tool and the API path at $0.002 per successful call.

How to use it

Enter your values in the form above. The tool checks them before calculating and shows the result on the same page.

Check your inputs

Use the labels and units shown next to each field. If something is missing or outside the allowed range, the page points to the field to fix.

Use it again or automate it

Use the browser tool for individual checks and the API when you need the same capability in an automated workflow.

What you can do with it

Get an answer now

Enter one set of values and see the result without building a spreadsheet or script.

Compare scenarios

Change one value at a time and rerun the calculation to understand what affects the result.

Automate repeated work

Use the API when the same calculation needs to run inside your product or workflow.

FAQ

How is the Australian Medicare check digit calculated?

Multiply the first eight digits by the weights 1,3,7,9,1,3,7,9, sum the products, and take the result modulo 10. That remainder is the ninth digit of a well-formed card number.

What input format does the Medicare validator accept?

Send number (or alias medicare) with digits 0-9. Optional spaces and hyphens are stripped. Compute needs exactly eight base digits; validate needs nine (base+check) or ten (base+check+issue). First digit must be 2-6.

What does a successful response look like?

Compute returns check_digit, with_check, weighted_sum, and algorithm medicare-mod10. Validate returns valid, base, check_digit, expected_check_digit, and weighted_sum. Checksum failures return valid false without throwing.

Does a valid check digit mean the card is active?

No. This tool only proves the digits satisfy the published weighted modulo-10 rule. Active entitlement, patient identity, and IRN status require a Services Australia or practice system lookup.

What does the Australia Medicare check digit tool cost?

The browser tool is free and runs locally. API requests use prepaid KIT balance at $0.002 per successful call; invalid input is never charged.

For developers — API access

Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.

API endpoint

POSThttps://api.kit.forhosting.com/enc/medicare-australia

Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.

Call it from your stack

curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/enc/medicare-australia \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"number":"21234567"}'

const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/enc/medicare-australia", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "number": "21234567"
  })
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/enc/medicare-australia",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
    json={
    "number": "21234567"
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]

<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/enc/medicare-australia", false, stream_context_create([
  "http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
    "content" => '{"number":"21234567"}',
  ],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);

body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"number":"21234567"}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/enc/medicare-australia", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

Example request

{
  "number": "21234567"
}

Example response

{
  "task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "type": "enc.medicare_australia",
  "status": "queued",
  "_links": {
    "result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
  }
}

The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.

Pricing

Per request$0.002

Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.

Errors

HTTP	Code	Meaning
`401`	`unauthorized`	Missing or invalid API key.
`402`	`insufficient_balance`	Your balance doesn't cover the task price.
`404`	`unknown_type`	That task type doesn't exist.
`429`	`rate_limited`	Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling.

Read the full KIT documentation →