22 September 2016 - Edgar Newman’s heart now beats regularly thanks to a $52,000 ­implant but the 49-year-old Victorian says it’s “bloody ridiculous” that the same device can cost about $30,000 less in the public system and that the price difference is driving up his health insurance premiums.

The Australian reports that Mr Newman’s two-day stay in hospital in April cost $76,464, with the bulk of that — $71,608 — ­accounted for by the price of the prostheses used.

A Medtronic heart defibrillator he had inserted to force the left and right side of his heart to beat in synch cost $52,000, with the rest of the overall prostheses cost coming from five other devices he needed for the surgery.

Figures from Western Australia’s public hospitals reveal that the average cost of the same or very similar defibrillator in that system is about $22,000.

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