All about the TAC medical excess (Vic)
The TAC excess is just like any other excess payment on an insurance claim.
You’ve paid your insurance premium, but if you have to make a claim, you still might have to pay an excess, which is a payment you have to make before the insurance kicks in.
Accidents after 14 February 2018
The good news is that the rules around the TAC excess changed on 14 February 2018.
If your accident occurred on or after that date then you will not have to make an excess payment before your TAC insurance starts.
Given the law says that you normally have only one year from the date of an accident to make a claim, and up to three years in exceptional circumstances, if you’re reading this post because you’ve had a TAC accident, it’s very unlikely you will have to pay the excess.
Accidents before 14 February 2018
If however your accident was before 14 February 2018 and you haven’t yet made a claim or dealt with the medical excess, than the following applies:
- If you were admitted as an inpatient at a hospital after the accident, the excess will be waived. If you stayed overnight in hospital, you are likely to be classified as an inpatient.
- If you weren’t admitted as an inpatient but a family member in the same accident was, then likely the excess will be waived. The excess applies to a family as a whole, so if one person is exempt, all family members are.
- If none of the above applies to you, you/your family will need to meet the excess before most treatment will be paid for.
Ambulance related expenses and hospital charges aren’t subject to the excess, so TAC will pay those expenses on an accepted TAC claim even if the excess hasn’t been waived or met.
This also applies to household support, occupational therapy, travel, social work, nursing and exercise physiology.
The excess is $651.
How do you reach this amount?
It’s not a payment you make to the TAC.
It’s the cost of treatment that you’ve had due to the accident.
It is also not necessarily going to come entirely out of your pocket.
If you used private health insurance or Medicare paid for some or all of your treatment costs, that all goes to meeting the excess.
If you need to meet the excess and believe that you have, complete a Medical Excess Declaration Form and send it to the TAC.
The TAC will confirm with you once they are satisfied the excess is met, then you and your treating health professionals will be able to bill the TAC directly for your medical costs.
