Medicare Boost: Greater Transparency on Medical Fees
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will help Australians find the best value when they need specialist medical advice and treatment, by fixing the former government’s failed price disclosure tool, Medical Costs Finder.
The former government spent $24 million setting up the Medical Costs Finder website, which it claimed would use Medicare data to display the average cost of common specialist consultations and services, alongside the fees that individual doctors voluntarily shared to the website.
By the end of 2022, of around 11,000 specialists registered to practise in the 11 specialties included on the Medical Costs Finder, just 7 doctors had chosen to voluntarily display their fee information. Not 7 per cent – 7 individual doctors.
Even three years later, only around 70 doctors have voluntarily displayed their fee information. Not 70 per cent – 70 individual doctors.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the cost of medical and hospital services is a key driver of health inflation for consumers, which feeds into higher out of pocket costs and higher private health insurance premiums.
Fees can vary widely across specialists, even for the same procedure in the same part of Australia:
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will upgrade the Medical Costs Finder website to display the average fee charged by every eligible specialist across all non-GP specialities, without asking doctors to spend time on data entry.
A $7 million investment will deliver the technical capability to analyse annual Medicare, hospital and insurer data for every common medical service and display the average fee that each doctor charged, alongside the national average for that service.
The upgrade will ensure Australian patients will have the power to compare costs and make informed choices about their medical care, while not imposing any administrative burden on doctors.
Alongside Medicare data, the upgraded website will also include data from private health insurers showing their financial arrangements with specialists and how often patients pay out-of-pocket for services that aren’t fully covered by their insurance policy.
Insurers will be required to provide this information on the Medical Costs Finder, because – despite being able to provide it voluntarily under the former government’s approach – only three insurers have transparently displayed their gap fees on the site, so far.
A re-elected Labor Government will engage with stakeholders in the health sector on the design and implementation of the upgrade to the Medical Costs Finder, and the legislative changes that will be needed to underpin it.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
“The former Government did nothing to make the Medical Costs Finder a useful tool for consumers.
“It’s a service that has been left gathering dust and doesn’t help patients determine specialist out-of-pocket costs.
“The Albanese Labor Government will help Australians find the best value when they need specialist medical advice and treatment, by upgrading the Medical Costs Finder to give more transparency on fees.
“We are committed to working with consumers, the colleges and private health providers on the design and implementation of this important cost transparency measure.
https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/strengthening-medicare-more-transparency-on-patient-medical-fees?language=en