Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026

View or download a copy of the ASA Submission on Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026 on the ASA website here.

This submission notes that the ASA supports measures in the Bill to enhance transparency in healthcare pricing, enable consumers to make better informed decisions about their care and to derive better value from their private health insurance. However, these must be paired with measure that address inadequate indexation of MBS and private health insurer benefits and gap cover arrangements.

The ASA made the following recommendations:

1. It is absolutely essential that the Transparency by Default measure in the Bill is accompanied by fit-for-purpose data definitions and consumer context, to ensure information published on the Medical Costs Finder strengthens, rather than weakens, patient informed financial consent.
2. Ensure a fast, simple and low-cost correction pathway for doctors to promptly amend any inaccurate published data about them or their fees.
3. MBS and private health insurance anaesthesia rebates should be regularly indexed to better reflect the real cost of providing specialist care.
4. Private health insurers should regularly index known-gap limits and review gap-cover settings, so these keep pace with the real costs of providing specialist care.

Support the timely completion and implementation of the current MBS Anaesthesia RVG review, as the most appropriate and proportionate mechanism to modernise anaesthesia items, reduce compliance risk, and safeguard the integrity of the MBS.