If re-elected, a 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.
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.
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 aim of the upgrade is to assist patients 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.
All insurers will be required to provide this information on the Medical Costs Finder. Currently, only three (of 29) insurers have transparently displayed their gap fees on the site.
Asked how often data on the Medical Costs Finder website will be updated, Minister Butler said he would like to see this happen on a quarterly basis.
The Australian Medical Association has welcomed the government’s commitment to increase transparency on consumer out-of-pocket costs for private healthcare, including placing stronger obligations on insurers to reveal data showing how much they contribute to the cost of care and how often patients pay out-of-pocket costs that are not fully covered by their insurance policy.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said a major challenge to medical practitioner uptake of the Medical Costs Finder website has been the lack of information provided by private health insurers, particularly about the rebates provided for specific procedures. Despite a commitment from the former government to include this, insurers have largely avoided this scrutiny.
“The rebates patients receive are hidden on individual insurer websites, but we think they should be plainly available to consumers when they visit the Medical Costs Finder website to see which insurer provides the best value for the procedure,” Dr McMullen said.
ASA meeting with the Department of Health and Aged Care
The ASA will meet with representatives from the Private Health Strategy Branch in Department of Health and Aged Care on Tuesday, 25 March to receive an update on the Medical Costs Finder site.