The ACT Greens have announced they would abolish the fees charged by the ACT Ambulance Service for emergency call-outs, if elected.

Emergency ambulance service (treatment and transport) costs $1,070 (plus $14 for every kilometre travelled outside the ACT), while treatment without transport costs $741.

“On the worst day of your life you shouldn’t be worrying about the cost,” Andrew Braddock MLA, Greens spokesperson for emergency services, said. “When you’re in an emergency and calling for an ambulance, you’re calling for an essential service.

“A thousand-dollar ambulance bill is a significant financial shock for most people, and chasing up the payments can cost the public service more money than it’s worth.”

Currently, the Greens note, the ACT Government charges $7.5 million each year in ambulance fees, of which $1.5 million is written off as bad debt. If emergency ambulances were free, the ACT Government would forgo $6 million of revenue per year, the Greens calculate.

“There’s a lot the ACT Government can do to help local people struggling in this cost-of-living crisis,” Mr Braddock said. “Amongst the most important is assuring people they can access genuinely free emergency healthcare, when they need potentially life-saving assistance.

“This is a simple change we can make to support Canberrans with the cost of living, and let our ambulance service focus on helping people, not collecting debt.”

The ACT Emergency Services Agency acknowledges “that during stressful times, the costs of paying for an ambulance can seem daunting”, and that many circumstances mean people do not have to pay ambulance fees.

Private health cover, for instance, is available as “ambulance only cover” for $100 each year. Ambulance services are free for people injured in motor vehicle accidents; school students; victims of domestic or family violence or sexual assault, or of violent crime; minors under care orders; clients of home-based palliative care; people who die while in the care of the ambulance service; or people whom on-duty Emergency Services personnel request to be assessed as patients.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr (ACT Labor) was sceptical of the Greens’ policy, which he said would require changing the system, and the finances of which had not been thought through.

He said that a public insurance scheme would need to be put in place, which would entail a fair amount of work. Under current arrangements, most Canberrans are covered by private health insurance, and the ACT has a free system for concession-card holders; those who did not have either were charged.

“If you were to extend the scheme to effectively be free for everyone,” Mr Barr said, “then you would either be expecting people who currently have private health insurance to downgrade their private health insurance to no longer have ambulance cover, and have a universal public insurance scheme – so it would be quite a dramatic change in the way that the system operates. It would require a community-wide levy in order to fund that community-wide insurance scheme. That would be the most efficient way, if you were to change the current arrangement to proceed.

“What I heard from the Greens this morning I don’t think is that most efficient model. So we’ll see where they go. They haven’t put any costings on it; it hasn’t gone through any assessment process. So it remains a thought bubble at the moment.”

Emma Davidson MLA, ACT Greens spokesperson for Health, said: “A high quality universal health care system means free services – from in the community all the way to an acute hospital setting.

“Anyone in a health crisis should have access to a free ambulance. Paramedics play an important role delivering urgent care in the community and also triaging people for hospital. 

“When Canberrans call for help as soon as they need it, pressure on our emergency departments will be reduced and people will have the best possible health outcomes.

“The ACT Greens want everyone to be able to access free health support when and where they need it. Today’s announcement follows our commitment for four bulk-billed GP clinics, so people can get free care throughout their health journey.”

Sam Nugent, Greens candidate for Brindabella, has used an ambulance several times in the last two months, and says people shouldn’t need private health insurance to avoid bill shock in a medical emergency.

“If I’d chosen to cancel my private health insurance, I would have been left $3,210 out of pocket,” Ms Nugent said. “As a part-time worker with a chronic health condition, I am unsure as to how after this expense I would be able to afford my medication.

“In a cost-of-living crisis, when people need emergency care they should not be faced with a choice of needing to cut expenses to pay for emergency services. Do you have to second guess in an emergency how you can afford a life-saving service?

“This initiative will make a significant impact for those who are left facing an unexpected cost of $1,070 for a single ambulance trip in the current cost of living crisis.”