Reeva Brice’s $1200 bill for 3km ambo ride after fainting ‘floors’ the aged pensioner
Reeva Brice is supporting a push to make ambulance transport free for pensioners in Thursday’s state budget, after copping a massive bill for a 3km ride.
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Reeva Brice, 84, thought she was going to need an ambulance – again – after copping an almost $1200 ambulance bill for a 3km ride to hospital.
The generally healthy woman was teaching reflexology at WEA in Angas St last November when she had a fainting spell.
Paramedics were called who found her heart OK but her blood pressure high and rather than go home alone she agreed to go the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
She underwent tests and was kept in overnight for observation while her blood pressure eased then discharged the next day.
“I later received a bill for $1191.10 and nearly fainted again – I thought it might be $300 or $400 but this just floored me,” she said.
Ms Brice said she did not have ambulance cover – which costs single pensioners $59.50 a year – as she was otherwise healthy and had never needed an ambulance.
She since negotiated the bill down to $595.55, paying in $22.95 fortnightly payments.
Ms Brice is backing a Council on the Ageing (COTA) SA push to make ambulance transport free for pensioners in Thursday’s state budget.
COTA SA chief executive Miranda Starke said: “We know cost-of-living is the issue concerning South Australians aged 50+ the most, followed closely by access to health services. We will continue to advocate for South Australians on a full age pension to have access to free emergency ambulance services in a cost-of-living crisis.”
Ms Starke noted no other state or territory charges full age pensioners for emergency ambulance services, with Queenslandand Tasmania providing the service free to all residents.
COTA also wants to extend the Patient Assistant Transport Scheme to older people living on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The journey from Goolwa to the Royal Adelaide Hospital is about 85km.
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Originally published as Reeva Brice’s $1200 bill for 3km ambo ride after fainting ‘floors’ the aged pensioner
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