EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 NO. 286
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH
Health Insurance (Variation of Fees and Medical Services) (No. 26) Regulations
Section 133 of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters required, permitted, necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Schedule 1 to the Act contains a table of medical services and rules for the interpretation of the table. The table of medical services contains items which set out the description of each medical service, and the fee for medical benefits purposes applicable in each State in respect of the service.
Section 4 of the Act provides that the table of medical services, items or rules of interpretation in Schedule 1 to the Act may be varied or replaced by regulations, and that regulations replacing such a table may be amended by regulations.
The Health Insurance (Variation of Fees and Medical Services) (No. 22) Regulations, as amended by subsequent regulations, prescribe a table under section 4 of the Act.
Section 9 of the Act provides that Commonwealth medical benefits shall be calculated by reference to the fees for medical services set out in the table. The amount of medical benefit paid by a registered medical benefits organisation out of its basic medical benefits table in respect of a medical service is also, by virtue of the definition of ‘guaranteed medical benefit’ in sub-section 4(1) of the National Health Act 1953, based on the fees set out in the table of medical services.
On 23 September 1982, the Minister for Health announced details of the determination of the 1982 Medical Fees Inquiry, an independent public inquiry set up by the Government to determine necessary increases to the majority of the fees, used for the calculation of medical benefits, set out in the table of medical services. The Government had previously agreed to accept the determination of the inquiry and to implement it with effect from 1 November 1982.
The determination of the inquiry was that the current fees in the table of medical services should be increased by 10.0% for general practitioner attendances; 9.7% for consultant physician services; 9.8% for specialist attendances, obstetric and surgical services; 8.9% for anaesthetic services; 12.3% for pathology services, and 10.3% for radiology services. These increases represent an average increase of 10.2%; and mean, for example, a rise in the fee in the table of medical services for a standard consultation with a general practitioner in New South Wales from $12.00 to $13.20.
Fees for the 4 items in the table of medical services relating to attendances by optometrists who are participating optometrists under the Act have been adjusted annually since 1975 following negotiations between the Commonwealth Department of Health and the Australian Optometrical Association, and acceptance by the Government of resultant recommended increases. Following recent negotiations with the Australian Optometrical Association, the Government has accepted recommended increases to the fees for optometrical services to operate from 1 November 1982. The effect of these increases is, for example, to increase the fee for a sole or first attendance by a participating optometrist from $26.50 to $29.00.
The statutory rules provide for the repeal of the Health Insurance (Variation of Fees and Medical Services) (No. 22) Regulations, as amended, and the prescribing of a new table of medical services. The new table of medical services incorporates the increased fees determined by the 1982 Medical Fees Inquiry. It also incorporates the increased fees for optometrical services agreed to by the Government.
The statutory rules came into operation on 1 November 1982.