Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I think this is a very difficult area. I too want to defend the professional freedom of doctors but I also understand that, in order to keep premiums down, private health insurers want to be in a position to be able to negotiate the best price for services. So that is a difficulty. However, having said that, I would not want to see a doctor if I knew that he or she was not able to take action—whatever it is—because some agreement with a private health insurer prevented that. From a consumer’s perspective, I think this is an amendment that should be supported. But the problem with the private health insurance system is that there are effectively very few constraints that can be put on costs. There is always going to be this tension when you have such a system. So I come down on the side of consumers but I also recognise that, if you are a private health insurer, there are reasons why you would want to be able to negotiate away some of those freedoms.