Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support these bills as they seek to implement and modernise and improve the private health insurance Prostheses List. We know that the proposed legislation would amend private health insurance legislation to better define the items for which set benefits are paid by private health insurers so that these benefits are only payable for medical devices or human tissue products that meet specific definitions.

Importantly, these bills also update the cost recovery arrangements to provide fees for service and levies that are consistent with the Australian government's charging framework. They continue the work of the 2021-22 federal budget, where $22 million over four years was committed to modernising and improving this measure. The government has agreed to continue with the Prostheses List reform activities on the basis that the objectives are aimed at improving value for money for privately insured Australians.

Naturally, we'll proceed with these reforms through our lens. Labor recognise that both public and private sectors play a critical role in Australia's world-class health system. We are a government that's concerned that Australians are abandoning private health insurance due to increasing costs and declining value. The bill's intent is to preserve clinician and patient choice in the private health system, assist in reducing benefits paid to private health insurers and put downward pressure on private health insurance premiums. All of those are very good things. They would update cost recovery arrangements to provide fee-for-service arrangements and the imposition of a cost recovery levy on each kind of medical device and human tissue product listed in the instrument. Passage of the bills before 1 July would allow the implementation of these actions, which is also a positive outcome.

Deputy Speaker Chesters, you may or may not know, and as the member for Macarthur mentioned, some of the biggest medical device manufacturers and their peak industry body, the Medical Technology Association of Australia, are based in my electorate of Bennelong. As you can probably understand, they've taken a little bit of interest in this legislation and, thankfully, have been intimately involved in the report reform process. I'd like to thank them for bringing me, a new member, up to speed on this issue in a very short time. Had you asked me on 20 May 2022 what the Prostheses List was, I could've said, hand on heart, 'I have no idea what you're talking about'! But, thankfully, I'm a bit more across it now, from items on the general list to category and price bundling. I now know who and what IHACPA is, which is exciting! And I feel that I've learnt a lot about this issue in a very short time.

Ultimately, what I understood very quickly was that this was an area of health policy that needed reform. The list can be arbitrary; the definitions are sometimes too narrow; and it is in desperate need of modernisation, given the extreme advances in technology that we see in this sector each and every day.

I look forward to being part of a government that will continue on with this reform over the next few years. This package of legislation represents the first chance the parliament has had to consider this reform that was announced in the 2021-22 budget. As we heard, this is the first step in a longer process of enacting the reforms.

I guess the main message from my local constituents—be they those who work for these companies or the companies in the medtech sector themselves—is that it's important that every area of the private health sector plays their part in ensuring that the cost of private health insurance comes down. Medical devices represent one-tenth of private health insurance benefits paid and nine per cent of premium revenue growth since financial year 2013. Growth in device benefits is driven entirely by clinician and patient demand. Private health insurance sustainability must be achieved; and it can be achieved, through wide-ranging reforms of which the Prostheses List is just one.

This list is an important regulatory tool to ensure that patients in the private hospital system have access to this life-saving medical technology. It provides clarity in the delivery of health care by providing healthcare providers with a list of medical devices that will be covered by health insurers for policyholders with appropriate levels of hospital coverage.

As mentioned, this reform is aimed at making private health insurance more sustainable. As we all know, cost-of-living pressures are hitting family budgets. Reducing the price of health insurance and putting downward pressure on insurance is a positive thing. This is part of broader and more urgent reforms to strengthen Medicare and resolve the crisis in primary care that we saw overseen by the former government.

I've had the opportunity to visit many of these companies. The member for Macarthur mentioned Edwards Lifesciences. There's also Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and Abbott. At the risk of not naming them all, I'll stop there. There are plenty. It's great to see that they're big employers locally, and that they deliver great outcomes for patients across the country.

I've also had the pleasure of meeting with locals in Bennelong whose lives have fundamentally benefited from access to this same medical technology. In the first few weeks after being elected, I met Andrew from West Ryde. Andrew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was just eight years old. Type 1 diabetes has completely dominated Andrew's daily life, particularly restricting his ability to hear, see, walk, work and drive. Four out of the five members in his family have now been diagnosed with type 1. He was one of the many passionate locals in Bennelong I met with before the election and after it who've received access to subsidised continuous glucose monitoring and flash glucose monitoring products, which this government was proud to subsidise from 1 July. His ability to access a constant glucose monitoring system has saved his life and made his life more livable.

Devices on this list which we're talking about today, and devices that seek to be added to it, are life-saving. I have visited and spoken to these companies and seen their commitment to their patients and their role in innovation, training and research. As employers, they are also committed to sustainability, equity and diversity. The feedback that I have received from them and many of those who work with them is that they're very supportive of these reforms and their objectives. They would like to see the cost of private health insurance go down.

The medtech sector, like any businesses, operate at capacity when they have certainty. They want to keep delivering innovation and better outcomes for their patients. I understand the sector, through the MTAA and individually, are having ongoing discussions with the Department of Health and Aged Care about the implementation of these reforms. Although I understand a number of areas remain outstanding, I'm confident that they'll be resolved in a timely manner. It's welcome that the minister announced that the government will ensure that an alternative funding mechanism for the products that will be removed from the list will be mandated. That's positive. But the industry notes the details are still to be determined. I'm confident that they will be resolved in a timely manner.

I would like to use my time speaking on this legislation to encourage the department and the medical device sector to continue to engage in good faith and in a transparent manner, as they have been. Where detail is sought from the department, I'd encourage them to provide those details as quickly as possible. And, where the department requires cooperation, I'd encourage all stakeholders to reach common ground.

At the end of the day, there are some really, really positive elements to this legislation. Let's not forget about them. This reform will deliver savings to private health insurers, and if those savings are passed on they'll result in costs of living easing for policyholders, and that is a really, really positive thing. I'd encourage all parties to ensure that those savings are passed on. Savings to policyholders are welcome and they are good.

I look forward to receiving updates from the department about the ongoing process to simplify the Prostheses List and ensure it offers a fit-for-purpose pathway to assess medical technology. I also look forward to receiving positive news that all involved can have certainty throughout this process so that they can go back to focusing on innovating for better patient outcomes. I will be one of many, I can tell you, who will be following this process as it comes to implementation on 1 July.

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