24 September 2016 - The competition regulator should scrutinise the high prices Aus­tralians pay for medical devices compared with other Western countries, health insurance head Grahame Danaher says.

His call, published in The Australian, comes as the chiefs of Australia’s top health insurers warn that premiums are on track to rise again next year because of the inflated prices the private system pays for devices.

Health insurers have argued that about $800 million could be saved by reforming the Prostheses List, which the government uses to regulate how much health funds pay for prosthetics, human tissues and device implants. They say that could equate to about a $150 ­saving for each insurance policy.

Mr Danaher, chief executive of Westfund Health, blamed the prostheses issue to entrenched pricing privilege in the Australian healthcare sector.

Read The Australian article