New South Wales Consolidated Acts

MOTOR ACCIDENTS COMPENSATION ACT 1999 - SECT 55

55 Payment of hospital, ambulance, medical and other expenses not covered by bulk billing arrangement

(cf s 39B MAA)

(1) This section applies to--

(a) payment for the treatment of injured persons at hospitals, and

(b) payment for conveying injured persons by ambulance, and

(c) payment for any medical or dental treatment of, or rehabilitation services provided to, injured persons,

in any case where payment for the expenses concerned has not been made, and is not required to be made in accordance with a bulk billing arrangement under section 54.

(2) If an insurer is required to make that payment in accordance with the duty imposed on the insurer under section 83, the rate at which the payment is to be made is as follows--

(a) in the case of treatment at public hospitals--at the rate determined by the Minister for Health by order published in the Gazette,

(b) in any case in which a maximum rate is fixed under section 56--at the maximum rate so fixed,

(c) in a case to which a rate referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) does not apply--at the rate reasonably appropriate to the treatment or service having regard to the customary charge made in the community for the treatment or service.

(3) If the insurer does not make that payment, the body or person who provided the treatment or service to which the payment relates may recover the payment from the insurer as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.