Imagine going to a public hospital’s emergency department and a nurse from a private hospital asks you if you want to go to there instead.

This is the basis of a trial arrangement with a Ramsay Health Care nurse embedded at a Queensland public hospital emergency department. The idea is to divert privately insured patients to a Ramsay private hospital, reducing pressure on the public system.

But there are concerns about giving a single company access to emergency department patients and because being transferred to the private system could lead to unexpected costs for patients.

So, in an emergency, what does your private health insurance actually cover? And when does Medicare or other government funding foot the bill?

Private health insurance does not automatically include ambulance cover. Some insurers offer stand-alone ambulance cover, or you can check if you can add it to your hospital or extras policy.

But the state governments of Queensland and Tasmania cover ambulance trips for their residents.

Medicare doesn’t cover an ambulance trip. So if you don’t have ambulance cover and live in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory or Australian Capital Territory you will receive a bill. This can include a base call-out fee plus a........

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