19 June 2019 - Recent criticism levelled at brain surgeon Charlie Teo about his fees for an operation has generated much-needed public debate about the cost of specialist healthcare in this country.

Of the $120,000 bill paid by a Perth family for complex brain tumour surgery for their 12-year-old daughter, Teo says he received $8000. The family didn’t have private health insurance and, as the surgery was not offered in the public system, they decided to self-fund the operation in a private hospital.

Most of the bill went to cover the cost of the stay in the private hospital where the surgery was performed; state-of-art medical equipment for the sensitive operation; other specialists such as anaesthetists; and implants such as shunts and drains.

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