Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (1) on sheet 5909:

(1)    Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 31), after item 3, insert:

3A  After section 10A

Insert:

10C  Evaluation of the caps measures

        (1)    The Minister must cause an independent evaluation to be conducted of the impact and operation of determinations made by the Minister under section 10B.

        (2)    The evaluation must start not later than 1 April 2011.

        (3)    The Minister must cause a written report of the evaluation to be prepared.

        (4)    The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of the Parliament by 1 July 2011.

This amendment is to do with an evaluation of the cap measures. As I highlighted in my speech in the second reading debate, we are concerned about the impact that these measures may have and whether they are actually going to deliver the outcomes that are expected or whether they will have negative impacts, one of those for example being—I have a specific question and I am aware of the time so I will make it brief—about the issues around cataract surgery and the cap and its interaction with the scheduled fee. I have been seeking information from the government on this but I want to clarify it. I understand the reasons why the government is introducing the cap on the procedures they have articulated, but on cataracts one of the issues, as I understand it, is the escalation of the cost of out-of-pocket expenses. On the matter of the way the cap is now going to operate, as I understand it, some practitioners have been billing the cost of out-of-pocket expenses and they have been managing the invoicing as if they were in-hospital procedures.

My concern is that people on low incomes who do not have private health insurance and are unable to afford the cost of out-of-pocket expenses will now have to bear a significant cost. I have several questions for government. Have they got an estimate? Also, what is the estimate of the number of people or low-income families that will be affected by this change in the cap? I am talking about the cap and not the scheduled fee—and of course the cap and the scheduled fee interact.

My concern is that, by changing this, those people who are unable to afford the out-of-pocket expenses but have been covered by the practices that are ongoing—and I can understand why the government wants to change those practices, because they are not appropriate—are going to be significantly out of pocket once the cap, through this measure, cuts in. How many people are affected by that?