injuryupdate
22-03-2006, 07:03 PM
Not suprising - NSW has higher cost of living, and in order to live in desirable suburbs the NSW doctors charge to keep up with the Jones' professionals in fellow fields. However, since gap insurance is illegal, it just adds to the increased cost of living in NSW.
I have heard plenty of orthopods charge no gaps in SA, but hardly any do in NSW for example:
Private health customers not told of gap
AAP/SMH March 22, 2006 - 7:08PM
An ombudsman's report has found almost half of private health insurance clients required to pay a gap fee for medical services are not warned in advance.
Private health insurance ombudsman John Powlay has released his second annual report on the state of health funds.
Mr Powlay said in his report that almost one in every five private health insurance customers are forced to pay out of pocket costs for medical services.
Of these almost half are not warned in advance, he said.
"The findings ... indicate that failure of fees and likely gaps is fairly widespread - between 40 and 50 per cent of cases involving a gap," he said.
"The incidence of non-disclosure is considerably higher in some medical specialties involving anaesthesia."
Mr Powlay found that the average national gap was $720 and that 44 per cent of overnight stays in hospitals involved out of pocket expenses.
He said while it was a legislated requirement for approval of health gap cover schemes for participating doctors to inform the patient in writing of any out of pocket expenses, it was hard to enforce.
"In practice there is very little that funds can do to enforce this requirement other than drawing it to the attention of doctors," he said.
The average price of gaps between states also varied with patients in NSW having an average gap price of $1,057 and South Australians paying an average of $384.
He said this could be contributed to the difference in fees charged by doctors in each state.
"The higher average gap in NSW compared to South Australia is in part due to the higher incidence of doctors in NSW charging fees more than twice the Medicare Benefit Schedule fee (MBS)."
I have heard plenty of orthopods charge no gaps in SA, but hardly any do in NSW for example:
Private health customers not told of gap
AAP/SMH March 22, 2006 - 7:08PM
An ombudsman's report has found almost half of private health insurance clients required to pay a gap fee for medical services are not warned in advance.
Private health insurance ombudsman John Powlay has released his second annual report on the state of health funds.
Mr Powlay said in his report that almost one in every five private health insurance customers are forced to pay out of pocket costs for medical services.
Of these almost half are not warned in advance, he said.
"The findings ... indicate that failure of fees and likely gaps is fairly widespread - between 40 and 50 per cent of cases involving a gap," he said.
"The incidence of non-disclosure is considerably higher in some medical specialties involving anaesthesia."
Mr Powlay found that the average national gap was $720 and that 44 per cent of overnight stays in hospitals involved out of pocket expenses.
He said while it was a legislated requirement for approval of health gap cover schemes for participating doctors to inform the patient in writing of any out of pocket expenses, it was hard to enforce.
"In practice there is very little that funds can do to enforce this requirement other than drawing it to the attention of doctors," he said.
The average price of gaps between states also varied with patients in NSW having an average gap price of $1,057 and South Australians paying an average of $384.
He said this could be contributed to the difference in fees charged by doctors in each state.
"The higher average gap in NSW compared to South Australia is in part due to the higher incidence of doctors in NSW charging fees more than twice the Medicare Benefit Schedule fee (MBS)."