Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I first of all add my welcome to the Blue Army kids in the House, particularly to Theo and his mum, Julie, from the Western Suburbs in Adelaide. Theo is a terrific soccer player. He plays midfield right. He played for the blue team this morning against the parliamentarians. It pains me to say that some of our parliamentary colleagues are particularly dirty players! But still the kids won, and so they deserved to win.

The member asked a very important question. I want to give a bit of background to a situation I know is concerning a number of members, about the insurance funds that she mentions.

We have a mixed system here in Australia, as the member knows, where Medicare sits alongside a private system, with private hospitals funded in large part by private health insurers. They conduct about 70 per cent of surgery in this country and a range of other very important services. That system essentially functions through contracts negotiated between the insurers and the hospitals, on the other hand. That commercial tension has for a long time delivered competition and efficiency, which, ultimately, has been to the benefit of patients. But, like many sectors, this sector has suffered a price shock from COVID, and there are a range of other changes happening. There has been a shift away from overnight stays to more day surgery, which impacts the business model of many hospitals, and there have been other things as well.

As a result, I asked the secretary of the department to conduct a health check on this sector. Insurers, private hospital operators, the AMA and patient groups were part of that. It was very constructive. I've published a version of that health check, and I've asked the secretary to keep that forum going. It will discuss some short-term options for reform of this sector very soon, as well as some long-term ideas that include the AMA idea that they have been touting for some time now: a different regulatory system.

In the meantime, I will say this: both these two companies, Bupa and Healthscope, are large multinational companies that receive, either directly or indirectly, billions of dollars in taxpayer support through the insurance rebate and other means, as well as hard-earned money from fund members. They've got their commercial interests, but I make the point again that, given that level of support and the privilege of operating as part of Australia's healthcare system, I expect them to put patients first. Healthscope has given 90 days notice of an intention not to be part of Bupa's operations. They need to get back to the table. They need to fix this because the ultimate losers are going to be members of those funds who would be left having to pay vast out-of-pocket expenses. So I say again: get back to the table and fix this.

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