janeyray

Just thought I'd advice anyone who hasn't got ambulance cover to get it!

Just found out that it's not covered by Medicare and we have to pay the whole amount of $257 to St. Johns, for a 21 kilometer drive!! There way no way we could get hubby into the car (bad back) so had to call the ambulance. Didn't realise we would end up footing the whole amount!?

PeteY

How much does ambulance cover cost?

scotvness

I have it on good authority (Queensland Government) that from 1 July 2003, all Queensland residents are automatically covered for the cost of ambulance services anywhere, anytime, across Australia. The cost will be included on electricity bills at about 24 cents a day - cheep at the price I'd say - we never know when we will need one.

'Call me an Ambulance - Okay - You're an Ambulance

janeyray

What a good idea, wonder if W.A will do it, maybe in another 10 years or so?

I think you can ambulance cover from as little as $100 a year? Which I didn't realise I would need till now. Never mind another lesson learnt!!

OzTennis

Reminds me of the sign -

For sale - 2 budgerigars, going cheep

On a serious note that is a bargain for the ambulance cover. The experience of the Countess of Wessex in the UK has also brought the issue of ambulance response times to the forefront of debate here.

OzTennis

PeteY

Great.

Hmm. I take it you are covered if you are renting....i suppose you are as long as you pay the water bill? I'll look into it....

MrsDagboy

Pete, ambulance cover in Qld is now included as a part of your electricity bill. Its charged at 24c/day, average bills are every 90 days, so about $22/quarter or $88/year.

No idea about other states.

Jirrupin

You would assume if you had to pay for a service, that you could also expect a certain standard, was it you Jane that had the ambulance men making fun of your husband . Tell them your knocking off 20% for poor professionalism

HiddenPaw

We paid $95 for a year's cover in Vic. That covers me and my hubby, but I think it was 'family' cover, (so presumably if we had kids, they would be covered in the $95 as well).

wizzywozza

Calling an ambulance out in SA will cost you something like $500 - $600. One was called for my son last year when he had a car crash but as he never actually got in it and was attended at the side of the road he was not charged.

Ambulance cover is about $80 a year through St John, and if you are on a Health Care Card as a low income earner you will not have to pay at all.

Ceri

I think this is a bit unfair. take for instance there is only two of us.. a bloke in work has 8 people in his household (6 kids and two adults).

And what about that guy who's kicking up because he is paying two lots, one on his home, one for his Bribie business.

There's even one bloke (may be the Bribie man) who has bought a generator not to have any more electricity.. taking a stand on this issue. I don't blame him.. not that I'd even consider doing something like that.. I like my modern appliances too much

I do think it's a bit unfair if you have only one person in a household compared to the next house which may have four or five people paying exactly the same amount as a single person. so in the long run the households that only house one or two people are contributing the most to the coffers. While if you have a brood of people in one house - you are laughing.
cheers

downunderpom

That's exactly the reasoning used for the Poll Tax in the UK, when Maggie was a girl in short skirts. What did you think of the reasoning then?

As a single (at the time) bloke in his own home I objected strenuously to having to support the houseful of EIGHT noisy buggers next door.

bondipom

The west needs more kiddies to support the growing geriatric population and their increasingly expensive healthcare needs. I think kids need to be subsidised more. There is a time bomb ticking away and at the moment the politicians have their heads in the sand as the measures needed to correct it are very expensive.

Hopefully the old farts will realise this and pay the necesary taxes but I doubt it. The attitiude will be "i have paid taxes all my life why should I pay anymore". Answer is if you want a doctor to look after you you we had all better get coughing up now and radically rethink the way we are currently funding our future.

Ceri

sorry , I disagreed with the poll tax , I didn't pay it .. I actually took a stand on the issue,( I didn't agree with the way it was valued). That was until they started to take it out of my wages.. I went up the wall - actually I went down to county hall and blew up with them... I got chucked out.. .lol I still owe for poll tax.. when I left the country I wrote them a letter basically telling them to "b*gger off as I'm leaving the country"
Apparently, they can still catch up with you for monies owing... so I'm not out of the woods.

Funny thing is , a lot of the people who took a stand the most were the old people (old war veterans etc) - there were quite a few of them prepared to go to jail, but the government even took that right away from them.. they took it out of their pensions.

cheers


P.S I do not see why my taxes should go to a household full of people who are on the dole.., who usually bring their kids up this way too. ie they usually follow in their parents footsteps.. learning how you do not need to work learning the ins and outs of claiming, there are handouts for everything just for sitting on your ar@e.

What the west needs is to abolish half of these hand outs. i.e more people working, paying tax from their wages that could then go into the hospitals and looking after the elderly.. not mass lazy b*ggers who sit on the dole who cost the western nations millions upon millions for sitting on their fat arses. (disclaimer.. some people do genuinely need hand outs)

bondipom

There are ways to subsidise without hand outs. Try tax credits. You have to ask who is going to look after all the oldies. There are not enough doctors and majority of those available now will be retiring and out of the workforce.

I have no idea how to deal with over productive single mums who do not support themselves but starving them out of existence is not the option.