Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026

Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (19:13): by leave—I record the opposition's support of the amendments, and I move opposition amendments (1) to (4) on sheet 3820 together: (1) Schedule 1, item 1, page 4 (lines 9 to 11), omit paragraph 124ZY(2)(b), substitute: (b) information about amounts of medical expenses incurred in respect of particular kinds of professional services rendered by or on behalf of particular medical practitioners, including: (i) the medians, and interquartile ranges, of those amounts; and (ii) whether, and to what extent, those amounts exceed the high expenses threshold (see subsections (2AA) and (2AB)) for those kinds of professional services; (2) Schedule 1, item 1, page 4 (before line 22), before subsection 124ZY(3), insert: (2AA) The Secretary must, by legislative instrument, determine an amount to be the high expenses threshold for each kind of professional service in respect of which information about amounts of medical expenses is published as mentioned in paragraph (2)(b).

(2AB) The amount determined for a kind of service must be the amount the Secretary considers is the highest reasonable amount of medical expenses for that kind of service. (3) Schedule 1, item 2, page 6 (lines 23 to 25), omit paragraph 324-5(2)(b), substitute: (b) information about fees and charges relating to the provision of particular kinds of covered treatment by or on behalf of particular medical practitioners, including: (i) the medians, and interquartile ranges, of those fees and charges; and (ii) whether, and to what extent, those fees and charges exceed the high fees threshold (see subsections (2AA) and (2AB)) for those kinds of covered treatment; (4) Schedule 1, item 2, page 7 (before line 33), before subsection 324-5(3), insert: (2AA) The Secretary must, by legislative instrument, determine an amount to be the high fees threshold for each kind of covered treatment in respect of which information about fees and charges is published as mentioned in paragraph (2)(b).

(2AB) The amount determined for a kind of covered treatment must be the amount the Secretary considers is the highest reasonable amount of fees and charges for that kind of covered treatment. We believe there needs to be additional information provided, particularly around the median and the interquartile ranges for particular kinds of professional services. Simply providing a number fails to provide the level of information that we believe would be useful for people who are using the Medical Costs Finder to actually make an informed decision in relation to any procedures that they are intending to pursue.

We think more data and more information will make the data that's contained on the website more useful and meaningful to those people using the website. If we are to provide information, we need to make sure that that information actually informs people's decisions and is not merely a number that may well be completely meaningless. We would recommend that the government give consideration to supporting that amendment.