Medicare rebate for specialist consultations drop to all time low

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Medicare is now covering little more than half of the cost of seeing a specialist leaving patients to pay the gap. An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare study shows Medicare funding for specialists has dropped to an all-time low.

Transcript

00:00If you've noticed that you're handing over more money when you see the specialists, you're

00:05not alone.

00:06This official data from the AIHW tells us that Medicare is picking up just 52% of specialist

00:13fees between January and March.

00:16That's the lowest rate on record and it's quite a significant drop when we look at figures

00:20from 2004, where Medicare was picking up 72% of specialist fees.

00:26Now these fees include things like consultations and visits, they don't look at surgery.

00:32But when we look at figures from July, we can see Medicare picked up 55%, so there was

00:37a slight uptick, but overall the trend is down, which many people would already be feeling.

00:44Expectant parents are particularly hard hit.

00:46Medicare covered just 39% of obstetric fees in July, compared to 60% in 2009.

00:52Dr Gino Pecoraro, who's the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

00:58President, says Medicare rebates are out of touch with reality.

01:02Over time, the Medicare rebates fall further and further behind, so that we see now where

01:09they're almost meaningless when it comes to accessing care in the federally funded Medicare

01:15sphere.

01:17So as you heard, specialists want and have long called for Medicare rebates to be increased.

01:22I also spoke to the Granite Institute's Health Program Director, Peter Braden, who said historically

01:28when rebates have been increased, it hasn't necessarily translated to lower out-of-pocket

01:33costs for patients.

01:35Instead, he says that governments should be looking at things like shoring up the supply

01:38of specialists, there's well-documented specialist shortages, and also looking at expanding public

01:44care for people who can't afford to see a private specialist.

01:48At the moment, people are languishing on waitlists to see public specialists for years.

01:53He also said that governments could look at improving transparency around specialist costs.

01:59In some cases, they could potentially even penalise specialists who are consistently

02:04charging very high out-of-pocket costs, saying that governments could potentially even threaten

02:10to take away the Medicare rebate in that instance.

02:14Let's take a listen.

02:16Bulk billing of specialist care is falling fast and fees are rising fast.

02:21And nearly a million Australians say they are delaying or skipping specialist care altogether

02:26because of the cost.

02:28And that has big effects on people's health and wellbeing.

02:31It's definitely a problem that governments have to tackle.

02:35Now the federal government says it has delivered the largest investments in Medicare in decades.

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