Patient Alert On Hidden Gap Fees

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday May 18, 2007

Mark Metherell

AS THE gap fees health funds pay doctors top $1 billion, the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, finds himself in a pre-election tug of war between doctors and insurers over fee disclosure.

Private hospital doctors earn millions of dollars more than that in uninsured gap fees. In 16 per cent of private hospital cases these come as a post-operative surprise to patients whose doctors had failed to tell them beforehand.

Mr Abbott's postponing a new survey into the issue has fuelled speculation a decision on whether to make disclosure compulsory could be delayed until after the election.

A government-commissioned survey late last year found that in 898,400 private hospital services patients were not told of their fees beforehand.

The health funds' spokesman Michael Armitage says the hundreds of thousands of patients being hit with unexpected bills would be angry at the delay.

"These are patients who are not informed of the gap charges, who are sick, vulnerable, often in pain and anxious and often in no fit state to be to be faced with further pressure over what they have to pay," said Dr Armitage, the chief executive of the Australian Health Insurance Association. "They should start the survey immediately."

NSW private hospital patients paid an average gap of $861 last year. The survey found that lack of disclosure was more likely to be associated with higher gaps, with 7 per cent of patients nationally reporting unexpected gaps of more than $1000.

The survey found in 84 per cent of cases doctors did inform patients, compared with 79 per cent in a survey in 2004.

Mr Abbott said that unless the rate was much closer to 100 per cent he would introduce measures legally binding on doctors. The Government has postponed the survey partly at the behest of the Australian Medical Association. The Opposition health spokeswoman, Nicola Roxon, said a new international study showed Australians "are doing terribly" when it comes to the cost of health care.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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