23 January 2017 - Australian patients are increasingly being forced to pay higher out-of-pocket costs for common procedures, with some specialists boosting their fees more than 300 per cent above the federal government rebate.

New data released by health ­insurance giant Medibank reveals that for common overnight procedures, such as childbirth and knee replacements, the average out-of-pocket cost to private patients has jumped, despite the insurer also increasing the average benefit it paid.

Medibank’s chief medical officer Linda Swan said in many cases the insurer was paying for its ­customers’ healthcare at rates that were well above the fees set by the federal government’s Medicare Benefits Schedule.

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