EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 NO. 205
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH
HEALTH INSURANCE ACT 1973
HEALTH INSURANCE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Sub-section 133(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (‘the Act’) provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Sub-section 19A(1) of the Act provides that, subject to sub-section 19A(2) of the Act, the regulations may provide that, unless the Minister otherwise directs, medicare benefits are not payable under the Act in respect of professional services rendered in prescribed circumstances.
Sub-section 19A(2) of the Act provides that regulations shall not be made for the purposes of sub-section 19A(1) except in accordance with a recommendation made to the Minister by the Medicare Benefits Advisory Committee under paragraph 67(1) (aa) of the Act. Paragraph 67(1)(aa) provides that included in the functions of the Medicare Benefits Advisory Committee, established under section 66 of the Act, is to
consider, in pursuance of a reference to it by the Minister for Health, whether medicare benefits should continue to be payable in circumstances specified by the Minister and to make recommendations arising from that consideration in writing to the Minister.
The Minister for Health accepted a recommendation of the Medicare Benefits Advisory Committee, made after consideration in pursuance of a reference to it by the Minister in accordance with paragraph 67(1)(aa) of the Act, that medicare benefits should not continue to be payable in respect of professional services which are rendered in association with the injection of human chorionic gonadotrophin (“HCG”) in the management of obesity.
Since 1954, claims have been advanced that the injection of HCG has therapeutic value in the treatment of obesity and the technique has been employed in Australia at various times by a small number of medical practitioners. The benefits which have been claimed include accelerated weight loss, and decreased hunger and discomfort during treatment. In 1976, however, the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee found that HCG had not been demonstrated to be an effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity, and that there was
no substantial evidence to support the various claims of its beneficial use in this regard. The Australian Drug Evaluation Committee is established by regulation pursuant to section 30 of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1966, one of its functions being to make medical and scientific evaluations of goods for therapeutic use. In its consideration, the Medicare Benefits Advisory Committee had regard, inter alia, to these findings; the views of the Endocrinology Unit, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney; and the still unproven effectiveness of HCG in the management of obesity.
The regulation, which was made in accordance with the recommendation of the Medicare Benefits Advisory Committee, prescribes circumstances in which professional services are rendered in association with the injection of HCG in the management of obesity as circumstances for the purposes of sub-section 19A(1) of the Act in which medicare benefits are not payable.
The regulation came into operation on the date of its notification in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.