WA Ambulance Cover

If you’re a resident of Western Australia and have Hospital or Extras cover with Medibank, you’re covered for ambulance services under the state scheme.

However, if you have a situation that isn’t covered by Western Australia's state scheme, please submit a claim to us and we'll assess it.

Pensioners and senior citizens

The Government of Western Australia provides free emergency and medically necessary ambulance transport to aged pensioners, their partner and other dependants, Australia-wide.

An “aged pensioner” is a permanent resident of WA who is 65 years and older, and receives either an aged pension assessed by Centrelink, or an aged service pension assessed by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

If you’re over 65 and not an “aged pensioner”, there is a 50 per cent subsidy on the cost of emergency and medically necessary ambulance transport both within WA and Australia-wide. You may be able to claim the remaining 50 per cent from Medibank.

These arrangements apply only to services provided or arranged by the St John Ambulance association. Ambulance services by other providers aren’t covered by the Government of Western Australia.

If you have standalone Ambulance cover

If you have standalone Ambulance cover with Medibank, there is a $100 co-payment toward the cost of each instance of non-emergency ambulance transport in Western Australia.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is considered an ambulance?

What is an approved ambulance provider?

What isn't included in my ambulance cover?

We don’t pay benefits:

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’re aged 65 or over and live in Western Australia, since you are eligible for free or subsidised ambulance services. However, if you’re eligible for subsidised services, you may be able to claim the remaining cost from Medibank.

Can I make a claim in any other circumstances?

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.

What is an "other approved facility"?

Can I claim for someone else?

You can claim for someone else on your policy, but you can’t submit a single claim form for more than one person at a time. You’ll need to do a separate claim form for each person. Please keep in mind that unless we have the other person’s consent, we won’t be able to discuss the details of the claim once it has been submitted.

To authorise someone else to act on your behalf when dealing with Medibank, apply using this Authority form.

Useful resources

How to submit an ambulance claim

What to do in an emergency

Going to hospital?

Hospital Assist provides support before and after your hospital stay with information, advice over the phone, and access to health professionals. We're here to help.

Go to Hospital Assist

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