Page 4399 - Week 11 - Thursday, 25 October 2018

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(2) There is no fee exemption pursuant to the Emergencies (Fees) Determination 2018 for people who are struggling to pay their ambulance fee.

A fee waiver mechanism, permanently extinguishing a debt is available to the Chief Officer, ACT Ambulance Service where the Chief Officer is satisfied that exceptional personal or other circumstances apply to a person to whom ambulance services were provided. Exceptional personal or other circumstances are defined in Schedule 2, Emergencies (Fees) Determination 2018.

(3) If an exemption applies under Section 5, Emergencies (Fees) Determination 2018, the person who received the ambulance service is not required to pay the Ambulance fee. A fee for items 294, 295 and 297 is not payable:

(a) by ACT school students who are injured or become ill at school or during approved school excursions within the ACT; or

(b) by residents of the ACT, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania or Northern Territory who, at the time the service was provided, held a current valid relevant concession card which includes an entitlement to free ambulance services under Commonwealth Government Department of Human Services provisions; or

(d) by an entitled person, as defined in the Children and Young People Act 2008; or

(e) where the ambulance services were provided to a person in relation to performing a good Samaritan act; or

(f) for ambulance services provided following an incident involving a motor vehicle on a road or road related area in the ACT; or

(g) where ambulance services were provided to a person who was deceased, or was unable to be resuscitated, while in the care of ACTAS officers; or

(h) by a person who is a victim of domestic or family violence; or

(i) by a person who is a victim of sexual assault.

If an invoice for an Ambulance fee is issued to the person who received the service, and the invoice is subsequently identified under an eligible exemption category, then no money can be outstanding to the ACT Government and, therefore, no money is ‘made’.

(a) A breakdown of the invoices issued by financial year, where the individual is subsequently identified as an eligible exemption from the Ambulance fee, is detailed below. This table also includes figures on invoice adjustments for private health insurance. Private health insurance companies carrying out business in the ACT pay an Ambulance Levy calculated on the number and type of private health insurance contributions. Once advice is received from a private health insurance company that an ambulance service has been covered by the Ambulance Levy the ambulance service is treated as an exemption.

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