PATHOLOGISTS have begun a consumer awareness campaign to explain why patients are likely to pay higher up-front costs for pathology testing from July 1.
Pathology Australia’s Don’t Kill Bulk Bill campaign opposes a government measure that will cut bulk-billing incentive payments for pathology and medical imaging services.
Bulk-billing incentives will still be paid to medical imaging providers for pensioners or children under 16, and the Medicare Safety Net will still apply, meaning Seniors Card holders and concession holders who spend more than $647.90 per year out of pocket on out-of-hospital services will have 80 per cent of any additional costs covered. However, there will be no bulk-billing incentives for pathology providers.
These payments, worth up to $3.40 per service for pathology, have been cancelled. It will be up to individual providers whether they pass on the extra costs. Pathologists say the changes will mean people who need regular tests, like those with diabetes, could be several hundred dollars a year worse off.
Those passing on gap costs will also need to charge the full cost up-front before patients can receive their Medicare rebate. Nurse educators have raised concerns that some patients will decide not to have tests that are essential to prevent serious illness or complications.
Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association president Dr Christian Wriedt said under the changes, about three million people would be moved off bulk-billing funding for medical imaging services. Patients will pay up to $56 in gap fees for x-rays, $101 for ultrasounds, $145 for CT scans and $173 for MRIs.
The up-front costs of a diagnosis for rheumatoid arthritis will increase to a minimum $288, or a minimum $282 for breast cancer and $4012 for melanoma.
Health Minister Sussan Ley said she did not expect patients to be worse off as a result of the changes, which she said could be absorbed by providers in a competitive industry. However, Australian Medical Association president Brian Owler said the changes would hit the poor and sick the hardest.
He said the Medicare rebate for pathology had not been indexed for 17 years, and it was “completely ridiculous” for the government to rip almost $300 million out of the industry without seeing flow-on effects for patients.
