EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1984 NO. 322
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 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 69(1) of the Act provides that the regulations shall make provision for and in relation to the manner and form in which applications for registration as a registered health benefits organization under Part VI of the Act are to be lodged, and the documents and information which are to be furnished in support of, or in connection with, such applications.
Regulation 19 of the National Health Regulations (‘the Regulations’) made provision in relation to applications by organizations to become registered medical benefits organizations or registered hospital benefits organizations under Part VI of the Act prior to its amendment by the Health Legislation Amendment Act 1983. Organizations are now required to conduct a health benefits fund and not a medical
benefits fund or a hospital benefits fund as previously, and can only be registered under Part VI of the Act as registered health benefits organizations. It is therefore necessary to make revised provision in the regulations for the purposes of sub-section 69(1) of the Act.
These statutory rules amend the regulations by repealing and substituting regulation 19 to reflect the amended provisions of the Act and impose revised requirements upon organizations seeking registration under Part VI of the Act. These revised requirements also take account of the fact that applications to become a registered health benefits organization normally would be made by organizations which have not previously conducted a health benefits fund. The requirements previously imposed by regulation 19 were designed primarily to accommodate applications from organizations which had already conducted a medical benefits fund or a hospital benefits fund under superseded health insurance arrangements.
Regulation 19 now requires an organization to furnish to the Secretary in the authorized form the following:
• a copy of the instrument constituting the organization;
• a copy of the articles or rules of the organization;
• a statement of the estimated assets and liabilities of the health benefits fund conducted by the organization at the commencement of its operations;
• a statement of the estimated income and expenditure of the fund during the first 12 months of its operation, and its estimated assets and liabilities at the end of that period;
• a statement showing the estimated number of contributors to the fund after 12 months of operation;
• a statement showing the ratio of the estimated management and administrative expenses to the estimated amount of contributions to the fund;
• a statement showing particulars of tables of benefits offered by the organization including levels of contributions and benefits; and
• a copy of any report to its members during the preceding 12 months by the organization if it carried on any business prior to the date of its application for registration.
Regulation 19 further provides that the person signing the application for registration shall certify in writing that copies and information furnished therewith are true and correct, and that the estimates furnished therewith are based on information that is true and correct.
The statutory rules came into operation on the date of notification in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.