EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 NO. 186
NATIONAL HEALTH ACT 1953
NATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH
Section 140 of the National Health Act 1953 (‘the Act’) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
A “restricted membership organization” (‘the definition’) is defined in sub-section 4(1) of the Act as meaning an organization, the rules of which restrict eligibility for membership by reference to certain specified matters relating to present or former employment in, or membership of, some form of gainful occupation, a professional association or union or the Defence Force. Paragraph (e) of the definition also permits eligibility for membership to be determined by reference to matters that are prescribed by regulation.
Regulation 3C of the National Health Regulations presently provides, for the purposes of paragraph (e) of the definition, that relationship, at some time, as a dependant, in accordance with the rules of. the organization as then in force, of a person who at that time was a contributor to a hospital benefits fund or medical benefits fund conducted by the organization, is a prescribed matter.
Since the introduction of medicare on 1 February 1984, organizations may only be registered as a health benefits organization and not a hospital benefits organization or medical benefits organization as was formerly the case.
A registered health benefits organization is now required to conduct a health benefits fund, not a hospital benefits fund or a medical benefits fund as was formerly the case.
These statutory rules extend regulation 3C to provide that relationship, at some time, as a dependant of a person who was, at that time, a contributor to a health benefits fund, as well as relationship, at some
time, as a dependent of a person who was a contributor, at that time, to a hospital benefits fund or a medical benefits fund, is a prescribed matter for the purposes of the definition of “restricted membership organization”.
These statutory rules came into operation on the date of their notification in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.