Increased Health Costs !

When we awake from the new year celebrations at the end of this year we will find a change in the safety net that applies to health cost refunds.    The good news is that the qualification for that safety net has been reduced.  The bad news is that limits will apply and we will pay more for out of pocket fees for medical treatment.

When an Australian has paid $638 in out of pocket medical fees after receiving the standard Medicare refund the safety net swings into action and takes up the slack by paying eighty percent of further health costs for the remainder of that calendar year.   That qualification from next year will drop to $600.

A new and complex formula will then apply to all medical services and the medical profession is still calculating how it will affect their fee structures, but it looks like the bill for a non bulk billing GP visit will now attract an increase of out of pocket expenses from $7.60 to $19.45.

The impact will be felt more heavily in the rates that apply to IVF procedures and for radiation and treatment of the mentally ill.  Visit numbers will apply in an attempt to reign in the cost and keep medical services sustainable.

There is little uniformity in the way health services are provided and paid for by world countries. The socialist manifesto insists that treatment should be free and yet that is impractical as a burden on most economies.  In some countries, seeing a doctor requires the fee to be paid unfront -and those without money remain untreated.   Many countries have opted for a semi subsidized  health system such as we have in Australia.

The problem is that medicine in all it's forms is rapidly expanding.  We are discovering the ability to treat ailments and diseases that were once untreatable and medical research is constantly adding new drugs to our armoury of medical weapons - and the cost is blowing out exponentially.

Paying for medical services by way of individual health insurance certainly reduces the drain on the public purse but there will always be a segment of the community unable to pay the premium required.   The Australian network of public hospitals provides a service free to all and pensioners receive prescriptions filled at reduced cost.  Nobody should be denied basic services, although long waiting times usually apply and those able to pay get prompt service from private medical providers.

Once again the government health authorities are tinkering with the system to try and stretch services to cover more people while also containing costs.   There will inevitably be a backlash as out of pocket expenses increase, but by world standards our health system is probably up there with the best.