Shocked: Sandra Barrett was hit with a $1700 doctor’s bill on a P&O cruise …

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The Sydney Morning Herald

Traveller

Travel Incidents
Travel News

Date

March 23, 2014

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Shocked: Sandra Barrett was hit with a $1700 doctor’s bill on a PO cruise between Sydney and Melbourne. Photo: Steve Lunam

Passengers travelling on cruise ships between Australian ports have been warned that Medicare might not cover medical treatments required on board.

Big cruise line operators, including Carnival Australia, claim Medicare ”does not apply” on domestic voyages and the ship’s doctors, many of whom are foreign, are not required to have provider numbers.

”There has never been an expectation that only Australian doctors with Medicare provider numbers would be employed on cruises between Australian ports,” said a spokesman for Carnival, which owns PO and Princess.

”We take every reasonable step to ensure our guests are aware of the arrangements that apply to on-board medical services and strongly recommend passengers obtain travel insurance.”

Doctors are contracted on a global basis, he said, not depending on which countries the ship is visiting.

Despite this, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade travel website – which warns all cruise passengers to take out travel insurance – says Medicare benefits are payable for people ”travelling between two Australian ports”.

When Sandra Barrett consulted a doctor during an overnight PO cruise from Sydney to Melbourne last year, she was shocked to be hit with a $1700 bill.

The doctor was not registered as a Medicare provider, meaning she was among thousands of passengers on board not covered by the national health scheme.

”I had no idea that if you get sick on a cruise in Australia then you could be up for a massive medical bill,” says the 64-year-old, who received 20 minutes of treatment for heat exhaustion.

”It doesn’t matter if it’s something fleeting, once you get ill you have to pay. I was told that without travel insurance it would cost me $3000 a night to stay in the ship’s sick bay.”

Western Sydney MP Laurie Ferguson raised Mrs Barrett’s case in federal parliament on Monday. He said the government website gave ”no clue” that passengers were not insured by the health system.

”The DFAT website advises that people are covered,” he said. ”But they fail to qualify that by the reality that many of these doctors aren’t registered for Medicare.

”I would not think it unusual that Australians travelling to the Melbourne Cup or some cricket event by ship would decide not to take out travel insurance for such a short journey. People would be astounded this could happen.”

Mrs Barrett, of Campbelltown, said while she had ”always” taken out travel insurance for cruises to New Zealand, ”like many Australians I view the fact that if you are on a ship travelling between Australian ports then you are covered.”

Mr Ferguson said the government should ensure all ship operators running cruises between Australian ports have Medicare-accredited doctors.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said medical arrangements on cruise ships are matters for the ship’s operator and they are under ”no obligation” to employ Medicare-eligible doctors.