New fee website shows NSW pays up to 40 times more in out-of-pocket costs

Sydney Morning Herald

20 January 2020 - Private health patients in NSW are paying up to 40 times more in out-of-pocket costs than patients in other states for the same procedure.

While the federal government's new $7.2 million fee transparency website does not name individual specialists or list their fees, it reveals shocking disparities between what patients with private health insurance pay across the country and within Sydney.

In NSW, the average gap between the fee charged by a specialist and the Medicare benefit plus private health insurance benefit for cataract surgery was $650, compared to $30 in Tasmania. For hip replacements, NSW residents paid an average of $1800 to cover the gap between doctor's fees and any rebates, while those in Western Australia paid $170.

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Michael Wonder

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Michael Wonder