Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to stand in the House today to support the Private Health Insurance Bill 2006 and to oppose the amendments moved by the member for Gellibrand. The best guarantee of health care for Australians is a healthy private health sector, because if people have private health insurance and are able to access private hospital facilities then it means that fewer people will be seeking to access public hospitals and there will be better health treatment opportunities for everyone. The situation which existed under the former government was that people were simply unable to afford health cover. People were dropping out of health cover at a record rate and the private health insurance system was close to collapse. If the private health insurance system is not healthy then you find that the demands on the public health system become completely overwhelming.

Madam Deputy Speaker Bishop, you would know from your own experience in the area of health in the parliament and in the community that Labor Party governments at the state level throughout Australia have failed dismally in providing the healthcare treatments that indeed they should to the Australian community. In my home state of Queensland we had a horrendous situation at Bundaberg Hospital. Wherever you go, you find that public hospital waiting lists are far too long. Despite the fact that the states have access to every last cent of the GST, the states are simply not meeting their healthcare obligations to the Australian community.

It is particularly good to see that around 44 per cent of Australian residents now have private health cover. That is up from a very low figure which occurred in the dying days of the Keating Labor government. This means that some nine million Australians are able to access the private health system because they have private health insurance. This significant level of membership also helps to relieve the demands on Australia’s public hospitals. Membership of health funds enables members to have greater choice and flexibility. I have to say that history will record that one of the most effective areas of this government over the last 10 years has been in the ability to make it possible for more Australians to be able to take out private health insurance.

The Australian government is well aware that health funds need to be as flexible as they can be to provide the most efficient services needed by their members. I think everyone would agree—in fact, it is a no-brainer—that it would be remiss of government to introduce stifling regulations that encumber the business efficiencies of health insurers. Equally, of course, it is important to make sure that the rights of members of health funds are properly safeguarded, including the right to quality service and value for money.

This bill and related bills introduce changes that will help improve the flexibility of funds and services but they will also introduce some additional responsibilities of funds to their members. The most significant change outlined in these bills is the introduction into legislation of the concept of ‘broader health cover’. This is the concept of the provision of some health services and treatments outside the rooms of a hospital or medical centre. These sorts of treatments encompass a whole range of areas, including treatments that can be delivered in a home environment and treatments that are not necessarily required to be carried out within the environment of a hospital. Some examples—this is not an exclusive list—may include some cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy; dialysis; post-operative and post-discharge care; and nursing assistance.

The bills currently before the chamber will mean that hospital cover, as a type of service provided by health insurers, will now also extend to treatments that can be delivered out of hospital. This development will greatly increase the flexibility and treatment options for health fund members. It is also cost-effective—if the hospital facilities do not have to be accessed and these treatments can be carried out at home it must therefore be cheaper and it means that the health dollar will go a lot further.

The bills before the House are a very sensible range of amendments that will bring greater flexibility to the provision of health services and in doing so will reduce some treatment overheads. Most importantly, these bills will ensure that the quality of service to Australians is not reduced. These developments will enable health funds to supply services that will help to sustain their members’ health and reduce the possibilities of certain illnesses, through specific preventative services such as exercise programs, healthy diet programs and programs to help smokers to quit the habit.

These changes result from the needs and demands of health patients in what is an ever-changing world. Such flexibility was never envisaged in years gone past, when health services were almost entirely delivered in the hospital. Many people these days go to day treatment centres—they are treated and then allowed to go home, whereas often in the past these procedures would require that people remain admitted to hospital for a considerable period of time.

Today, it really is common for patients to desire greater flexibility in treatments and service delivery, and it is important that people have choice in this area. Many people prefer to go home, where they are in their own environment and surrounded by their family and friends. Often the environment of recuperating at home can be so much more conducive to a fast recovery than maybe the sterile surroundings of many hospitals.

In addition, under these bills, members who maintain their membership of a health fund over a continuous 10-year period will have the added benefit of no longer being subject to the Lifetime Health Cover penalties. This change is designed to not only reward those people who have made the decision to remain members of health funds for the long term, which overall assists the provision of health services in Australia, but also encourage others to do the same. The prospect of health cover becoming better value for money after a certain period of time is an attractive thing. It is expected that removing Lifetime Health Cover penalties will encourage new members to consider long-term membership.

The bills will also introduce requirements of health funds to supply improved and more-detailed information to potential customers and members. I think it really is important that, when a person makes the important decision to join a health fund, all of the terms and conditions and the facts are known to the prospective member. This will enable members to compare services and costs amongst the various private health insurance funds. That will assist individuals to make a choice as to which is the most appropriate fund offering the most appropriate fees and services to suit the individual’s needs. The documentation must include entitlements, policies and, as I have already mentioned, costs. This safeguard will offer significant protection to the consumer and ensure that customers are clearly advised of the services they can and cannot expect. This means that people will be in a much better position to make an informed choice.

The second significant feature of these bills is the introduction of new regulatory protections. Those funds that breach the new guidelines face appropriate penalties. Whereas in the past the firms themselves were regulated, these bills bring in regulations instead for services. It is a sensible shift in that it will encourage newcomers to the industry, a move that will have the obvious service and cost benefits, but it will also reduce the problems associated with firms having to comply with compulsory regulations. In fact, there are some 48 regulations currently. If a health fund falls down on just one of these regulations then they fail full-stop. This is a difficult set up, and these bills will address that problem.

Another significant purpose of the bills is that they introduce guidelines for the establishment of new funds, mergers, and the closing down and operation of funds. Included amongst the guidelines will be rules to cover the assets of health funds. These can only be used to meet liabilities that arise in the normal course of business.

These bills are significant. They will bring about the most substantial improvement in some five decades in the health fund regime. The bills are very sensible legislation. It is necessary to note that the government has also said that the legislation will be reviewed in coming years to analyse whether further changes are needed to ensure the best possible continued outcomes for both consumers and industry. At a time when Australians are living much longer than they traditionally have, it is important that the new health services available are affordable to Australians. That is why it is important that private health insurance be alive and healthy, and I am particularly pleased to commend this brace of bills to the chamber.

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