Does TAC cover ambulance costs?

Yes, the TAC will pay for the cost of an ambulance if you need it to transfer you to hospital after an accident.

How do I claim payment for ambulance costs from the TAC?

Many times, you will not need to do anything in order to get the ambulance bill paid for.

What often happens is that they hospital will lodge a TAC claim on your behalf.

They will do this because they want to ensure that all treatment expenses are paid for.

Often, people will not even be aware that the hospital has lodged a TAC claim on their behalf.

Once the TAC claim has been lodged and accepted, the hospital can then ensure that the ambulance bill has been paid.

If however you do receive an ambulance bill, you should send this off to the TAC.

You may have a TAC claim number if you were taken to hospital after the accident.

However if you do not know your claim number (perhaps because you don’t know whether a claim has actually been lodged on your behalf) then you should call the TAC and discuss the matter with them and they should be able to assist you.

If it turns out that a claim was never lodged by the hospital on your behalf, then they can lodge a claim over the phone and you can then send through the ambulance bill after the call.

What about other ambulance expenses?

Say that you have a back injury that flares up 12 months after the accident to such an extent that you call an ambulance to your home and it takes you to hospital.

If there is medical support for the fact that the back problem that you are experiencing relates to the accident, than the TAC should be responsible for paying the cost of the ambulance expense.

Likewise, if whatever reason you need an ambulance, say to transport you somewhere after surgery, then again if the reason for this relates to the accident then the TAC should be responsible for paying for this provided the expense is reasonable.

Wherever possible it’s a good idea to get approval from the TAC before incurring an ambulance related expense (obviously, in situations other than when the ambulance is required after the accident happens).

What happens if the TAC refuses to pay for an ambulance related expense?

This page will assist you.

It goes into detail about what your options are to appeal a decision made by the TAC.

In a nutshell, you can request that the TAC perform an internal review, you can pursue a dispute application and conference if you have a lawyer, and you can pursue the matter to VCAT.

Conclusion

TAC will be required to pay for the cost of ambulance expenses after motor vehicle accidents in most cases.

If you were hospitalised after an accident, the hospital may have lodged a TAC claim on your behalf which will then ensure that the ambulance bill gets paid for.

If you get sent an ambulance bill after an accident you should contact the TAC and make sure a claim has been lodged. Once you’re aware that a claim has been lodged, you should forward the ambulance bill to the TAC.

If the TAC fuse to pay for an ambulance related expense, then there are appeal avenues that you can pursue.