Holiday Medical Insurance !

Australia is a popular holiday destination for much of the world and tourists consider it a safe place to visit.  In the event of a sudden illness or accident  there is the expectation that an ambulance will be called and they will be treated at one of our hospitals.  Not all tourists have accident and health insurance and when most visitors get on a plane and go home those bills are often unpaid.

In an average year about sixteen thousand Medicare ineligible patients are treated in hospital across the Australian states, leaving behind sixty four million in unpaid bills.  Last year twenty million of such debt was written off as unrecoverable.

We do follow up with bills to visitors who have returned to their home country and often the debt is repaid by way of extended time payments.  Unfortunately, many visitors think that the Australian health system is free of charges and we have recently conducted an advertising campaign at entry points to dispel that mirage.

Exactly the same situation occurs to Australian tourists overseas who experience an accident or illness that necessitates hospital treatment.  The bills follow them home and in the event that they need to be evacuated in an expensive air ambulance they can become stranded in a foreign country. Often, this results in a public appeal to raise the necessary money.

Refusing an exit visa to tourists with unpaid hospital bills is not an option.   An unexpected medical bill is an unplanned event on a touring holiday and we would not want to add to the distress by placing obstacles to exit.  Such people would quickly be classified as " over staying their visa requirement " and held in detention centres.

That would run contrary to our expectation that tourists are welcome to enjoy the pleasures of an Australian visit as long as they obey our laws and leave on time as planned.   There is the expectation that an unplanned medical bill will be taken care of once they are back in their home country and can make the required financial arrangement.

It would be wise to have adequate medical insurance available at the place of entry.  Most travel insurance is complex and costly.  It should be simple to insure against most medical costs incurred on a visit within a reasonable price range at a relatively low premium for the length of the visit.  It is obvious that at present the majority of our visitors are not insured.

Cover for medical costs during a short period of time should be an acceptable risk for the insurance industry as most tourists complete their stay without incident.  The more attractive we make such cover, the less unpaid hospital bills will apply to our tourist industry.