New South Wales ambulance information

If you hold one or more of the concession cards listed below, you may be entitled to an exemption from paying the ambulance levy and to free ambulance services. To receive the ambulance levy discount, all individuals listed on the policy must carry a valid and current concession. You should also make sure that the card number and expiry date are on your policy before applying the concession.

Eligible cards:

• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
• DVA Card
• Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Cards
• Foster Child Health Care Card
• Health Care Concession Card
• Low Income Health Care Card
• Pensioner Concession Card
• Pharmaceutical Benefits Concession Card

Health insurers are required to pay a "health insurance levy" or "ambulance levy" to the State government for all residential policies which include hospital treatment for permanent residents of NSW.

If you hold standalone Ambulance or Extras cover (and don’t have Hospital Cover), your ambulance service provider will assess your claim assessed in accordance with the ambulance levy arrangements.

We don’t pay benefits:

• Towards any ambulance costs that are fully covered by a third-party arrangement such as an ambulance subscription scheme or a State/Territory ambulance transportation scheme. However, we may pay benefits for any ambulance costs not fully covered by these schemes.
• When you are transferred by ambulance between public hospital facilities while you are an admitted patient.
• For ambulance transfers once you have been discharged from hospital.
• When you are transferred to another hospital for treatment at the request of the admitting hospital because they do not have the medical facilities available to treat you (the admitting hospital may pay for this service).
• When you live in New South Wales, since you pay an ambulance levy as part of your hospital cover premium and are entitled to cover under your state scheme. If you have a Commonwealth concession card you might be exempt from paying the ambulance levy.

Where the State scheme allows, here are some other situations you can claim for:

• You’re an admitted patient in hospital, and the hospital requires you to be transferred from one hospital to another. (Note that this doesn’t include transfers between public hospitals.)
• The air ambulance provider has received pre-approval from Medibank to provide transport by air ambulance.
• A member is transported by ambulance to a hospital or other approved facility immediately following their death.

An ambulance is road vehicle, boat or aircraft operated by a service approved by Medibank and equipped for the transport and/or paramedical treatment of a person requiring medical attention.

Any ambulance called via 000 or by the hospital or other approved facility is an approved ambulance provider.

An “other approved facility” must be capable of providing immediate professional medical attention, like a medical centre or clinics. It doesn’t need to be closer than the nearest hospital or in a rural area.

We don’t keep a list of these facilities and assess whether one is an “other approved facility” on a case-by-case basis.