tawkins1

My niece was rushed to hospital on christmas day 2 years back in Perth with suspected meningitis. She was kept in for a week whilst they did various tests but luckily enough she was fine & was allowed to go home. My sister never got a bill for any of her treatment whist in hospital nor did she have to pay for the ambulance!
Would this be cos it was an emergency?
Bit confused with all this health care stuff

jimmyd4006

don't know about wa but ambulance levy is built into I think your electricity or rates bill in Queensland, so everyone in Qld is covered across oz

@boy

Correct. In Qld, your ambulance cover is collected automatically via your electricity bill.
From July 2007 it stood at a daily charge of 26.7 cents ($98 for the year).

TAS has a similar setup. All other states leave it up to you.

@boy

Either she had some health care policy, or they forgot to charge her fro the ambo trip. Certainly isn't free in WA or covered by any state scheme.

The Billing Policy on the WA St.Johns AMbo site as follows...

Billing Policy
St John Ambulance is a ‘user pays’ organisation which means that travelling in an ambulance is not free.
The cost of ambulance transport varies depending on the nature of the call out. Below are our standard fees for the different services we offer.

• Life threatening $570
• Urgent $570
• Routine Transport $345
• Patient Transport Vehicle $310

For insurance against these fees, coverage can be provided through private health insurers such as Health Benefit Fund (HBF). If you are a pensioner you may also be covered for ambulance transport (refer to the Ambulance Cover section below for further information).

For the situation particular to an state, ref here...
http://www.lets-getaway.com/ambulance.htm

tawkins1

OMG!
They must have forgotton to charge my sister then cos she's only ever had medicare