Do tourists need health insurance in Australia?

Do tourists need health insurance in Australia, it is not legally mandatory for tourist visa subclass 600 for most nationalities, but it is strongly recommended and effectively essential, and for some visas it is mandatory. Department of Home Affairs states you should have adequate health insurance for your stay because Australia does not provide free healthcare to tourists except limited cover under Reciprocal Health Care Agreement for 11 countries. Without insurance, you are liable for full hospital costs of $1,500 to $2,500 per day, emergency department $500 to $1,000, ambulance $1,000 to $1,500, and surgery $20,000+, which can lead to huge debt and visa issues. For visitor visa, immigration may ask you to show you have means to support health costs, and if you have condition 8501, you must maintain adequate health insurance. For working holiday visa subclass 417 and 462, you must have adequate health insurance, and for student visa subclass 500, Overseas Student Health Cover is mandatory. For tourists from UK, Ireland, NZ, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Malta, Slovenia and Italy, you have RHCA that gives limited Medicare for medically necessary treatment, but it does not cover ambulance, private hospital, dental, or repatriation, so private insurance is still needed. Recommended is Overseas Visitor Health Cover from Bupa, Allianz, Medibank, nib or AHM at $50 to $150 per month with $1M+ hospital and repatriation. So while not mandatory for all tourists, you need health insurance in Australia to avoid financial risk.