EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
SUBJECT - HEALTH INSURANCE ACT 1973
HEALTH INSURANCE (VARIATION OF FEES & MEDICAL SERVICES) (NO. 53) REGULATIONS
1990 No. 83
ISSUED ON THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES AND HEALTH
Section 133 of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 9 of the Act provides that Medicare benefits shall be calculated by reference to the fees for medical services set out in the table. The term ‘table’ is defined in subsection 3(1) to mean the table consisting of the general medical services table and pathology services table. The term ‘general medical services table’ is defined to mean the table of medical services set out in Schedule 1 to the Act.
Section 4 of the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe a table of medical services (other than pathology services) in accordance with the form of the table set out in Schedule 1 and that upon commencement of a regulation prescribing a table of medical services, the prescribed table has effect as if it were set out in Schedule 1 in the place of the table in that Schedule. The Health Insurance (Variation of Fees and Medical Services) (No. 51) Regulations prescribe such a table (the table).
The Health Insurance (Variation of Fees and Medical Services) (No. 53) Regulations have amended the above Regulations by, in short, inserting a number of new items, amending, for clarification and updating purposes, the descriptions of some existing items, and increasing the fees for two obstetric items.
Some of these amendments have resulted from a general review of the table aimed at ensuring that it continues to reflect modern medical practices and procedures and that potential for abuse is kept to a minimum. Others flow from a specific review of obstetric items in the table. As a result of this review the Regulations have increased the fees payable for two of these items, inserted a new item into the table for a sterilisation when performed in conjunction with a Caesarean section, made medicare benefits payable for assistance rendered at a Caesarean section by a general practitioner where the confinement was commenced by the general practitioner, and provided for the payment of medicare benefits, in full, where a confinement is associated with an operation.