The DVA White Card, which DVA calls the Veteran Card – Specific Conditions, pays for treatment of your accepted service-related conditions. Depending on your service, it can also cover treatment for all mental health conditions, cancer and pulmonary tuberculosis, without you having to prove your service caused them. Treatment is usually free if your provider accepts the card.
What the DVA White Card covers
Your White Card entitlements depend on your service and your accepted conditions. The card covers clinically required treatment in Australia for:
- injuries and conditions DVA has accepted as related to your service
- all mental health conditions, if you're eligible for non-liability health care
- cancer and pulmonary tuberculosis, for veterans with certain types of service
For those conditions, it can pay for GPs and specialists, hospitals and day procedure centres, allied health such as physiotherapy, dental and optical care, community nursing, and pathology and imaging. There may be some out-of-pocket costs for high-cost dental items. Medicines cost $7.70 per item until you reach your Safety Net threshold for the year.
The card can also help you get Veterans' Home Care, aids and equipment, travel to treatment and counselling through Open Arms. It may give you concessions and discounts from states, territories and businesses, and access to the Australian Defence Veterans' Covenant, including a lapel pin. Read about Veteran Card discounts and concessions.
DVA White Card eligibility
You may be eligible for your accepted conditions if you're a current or former ADF member, including reservists, with an accepted service-related injury or condition, or a Commonwealth veteran whose service-related condition is accepted by your country of service.
For mental health treatment, you may be eligible, including as a reservist, if you:
- have at least one day of continuous full-time service
- took part in disaster relief or border protection service
- were involved in a serious service-related training accident
Continuous full-time service includes permanent ADF service and reserve service where Defence formally put you on full-time service. It doesn't include training or activities on reserve service days.
For cancer and pulmonary tuberculosis, you need a medical diagnosis and one of these types of service: operational, warlike, non-warlike, peacekeeping or hazardous service, British Nuclear Test Defence service, certain continuous full-time service during the Second World War, defence service (usually 3 years of full-time service between 7 December 1972 and 6 April 1994, unless you were medically discharged), or completed national service from 7 December 1972.
How to apply for a DVA White Card
DVA sends a White Card automatically when it knows you're eligible. When you leave the ADF with at least one day of continuous full-time service, you get one that covers mental health conditions. When DVA accepts a service-related condition, your card covers that condition too. If you don't have a card, you can apply by:
- choosing Veteran Covenant in MyService
- applying for Mental Health Treatment in MyService
- sending DVA an Application for Health Care for mental health conditions, or for cancer and tuberculosis
- lodging a claim for a service-related condition
The card you get on leaving the ADF doesn't cover cancer or tuberculosis. For those, your doctor provides a diagnosis and you apply separately, online, by email to [email protected], or on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372). You don't have to wait for the card to arrive: you can show the digital card in MyService, and if you're charged while waiting, keep the receipts and claim them back.
Read DVA's White Card information
Using your White Card
Ask each provider whether they accept your Veteran Card before treatment. The first time you see a new provider, show them the list of your accepted conditions in MyService so they know what the card covers. They may call DVA to confirm, and some treatment needs DVA's prior approval, which your provider arranges. Read about referrals and prior approval.
Show your card to your doctor so they prescribe through the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and to the pharmacy. You can show the plastic card, the digital card in MyService or the card in your myGov wallet. If you get a bill for treatment the card covers, don't pay it; contact DVA. If you choose to be treated as a Medicare or private patient, DVA won't pay the out-of-pocket costs.
The card works anywhere in Australia but not overseas. DVA sends a replacement about a month before your card expires. If you lose it, order a new one in MyService or by phone, and it should arrive within 4 weeks.
DVA White Card fortnightly payment
White Card holders may get a small fortnightly supplement to help with the cost of medicines. It isn't paid if you already get an equivalent payment, for example with the service pension or another income support payment. It's usually $7.00 a fortnight, or $14.00 in some cases, and DVA pays it automatically. Depending on the Act your card was issued under, it's called the Veterans Supplement, the MRCA Supplement or the DRCA Supplement. If you become eligible for MRCA benefits after 1 July 2026, the Veterans Supplement or DRCA Supplement changes to the MRCA Supplement.
The White Card and help at home
A White Card for specific conditions and/or non-liability health care lets you be assessed for Veterans' Home Care. For Australian veterans, that assessment isn't limited to your accepted conditions. Separately, DVA Household Services can pay for household tasks you can't manage because of an accepted condition.
Compare Veterans' Home Care and Household Services
DVA White Card vs Gold Card
The White Card covers specific conditions. The Gold Card covers all medical conditions and goes to veterans with certain service or compensation levels, war widows and widowers, and some dependants. Compare the Veteran Cards.
Rules that are easy to miss
The supplement stops after you've been overseas for 26 weeks in a row, or from the day after you leave if you're leaving Australia for good. If you're paid the MRCA Supplement, it starts again from the day you're back or the day you tell DVA you're back, whichever is later, so let DVA know as soon as you return.
An accepted claim for bruxism (teeth grinding) doesn't cover repairs to your teeth. DVA treats bruxism as a mental health condition, so the card covers psychological treatment and may cover a mouthguard, but not fillings, crowns or orthodontics for cracked or worn teeth. If grinding has damaged your teeth or jaw, ask your doctor or dentist about claiming dental attrition (tooth wear) or temporomandibular disorder as separate conditions.
Your White Card can also pay for treating another condition when that's a necessary part of treating an accepted one, for example getting another condition under control so surgery on an accepted injury can go ahead. Ask your doctor to note the link. Under the MRCA, if DVA accepted a condition as an aggravation of something you already had, the card stops covering it if the aggravation ends.
Common questions
Does the DVA White Card cover dental?
Only when the treatment is for an accepted service-related condition. The Gold Card covers dental care for all conditions. Read about DVA dental care.
Does the DVA White Card cover skin cancer?
If DVA has accepted a skin cancer as related to your service, your card covers its treatment. If you have one of the eligible types of service above, you can also apply for cancer cover without proving a link to service. DVA's page describes that cover as cancer (malignant neoplasm) and doesn't list types, so send your doctor's diagnosis with the application and DVA will decide.
Can my spouse use my White Card?
No. DVA's eligibility rules for the White Card cover current and former ADF members and some Commonwealth veterans, not their partners. Partners and family members can get free counselling from Open Arms on 1800 011 046, and some widows, widowers and dependants get a card in their own right. Read about DVA support for families.
Checked against DVA's website on 25 September 2026.