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LoansCredit CardsAmbulance transport is not covered by Medicare, and an emergency call-out can run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. What you need to do about that depends almost entirely on which state or territory you live in.
This is the one part of health cover where the right answer is genuinely different depending on your address, and where a fair number of people quietly pay for cover their state already gives them.
Queensland and Tasmania fund ambulance services for their residents, so residents of those states are generally covered for emergency ambulance transport without needing anything from a health fund. If you live in either state and you are paying a health fund for ambulance cover, that is worth a phone call. Cover generally follows residency rather than where the incident happens, but confirm the detail with your state's service if you travel often.
In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT, residents are generally liable for at least part of the cost. Each of those jurisdictions handles it differently: some run their own subscription scheme, some provide concessions for pensioners and healthcare card holders, and health funds sell ambulance cover either standalone or built into a policy.
Most funds include emergency ambulance in their hospital policies and many include it in extras packages too, which is how people end up covered twice. Some sell it as a standalone product for a small annual fee. Check what your existing policy already includes before buying anything additional, and check whether it covers call-outs where you are treated but not transported, since that is a common exclusion.
Generally no. Queensland funds emergency ambulance services for its residents through the state scheme, so most Queenslanders do not need to buy separate cover. Check your existing health policy is not already charging you for it.
No. Ambulance transport sits outside Medicare entirely, which is why it is handled by state schemes and health funds instead.
Many services charge a call-out fee even without transport, and not every policy covers it. If that matters to you, check the wording specifically rather than assuming emergency cover includes it.
Medicare Levy Surcharge thresholds and government rebate percentages are reviewed regularly, so this page does not quote them. For the current figures see the ATO and the government's privatehealth.gov.au.
