May 2014 Budget Edition -- Medicare and patient contribution changes

INDIVIDUALS & FAMILIES

Medicare and patient contribution changes

Changes will be made to the Medicare system relating to patient contributions, indexation of fees and thresholds, and Medicare safety net arrangements.

Patient contributions

The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) rebates will be reduced from 1 July 2015 by $5 for standard general practitioner consultations and out-of-hospital pathology and diagnostic imaging services, while providers of these services will be allowed to collect a patient contribution of $7 per service.


For patients with concession cards and children under 16 years of age, the MBS rebate will only be reduced for the first 10 services in each year, after which it will return to current benefit levels. A new Low Gap Incentive will replace bulk billing incentives for providers of these services. The Low Gap Incentive will be paid to providers where they provide services to patients with concession cards or children under 16 years of age and only charge the $7 patient contribution - for the first 10 services in a year, or where they charge no patient contribution - for additional services in that year.


The measure will also remove the restriction on State and Territory governments from charging patients presenting to hospital emergency departments for general practitioner-like attendances.

 

Pausing of indexation

The indexation of some MBS fees will be paused for two years from 1 July 2014. The indexation for income thresholds for the Medicare Levy Surcharge and Private Health Insurance Rebate will be paused for three years from 1 July 2015.

General practice MBS fees will be excluded. MBS fees which are not currently indexed, such as pathology and diagnostic imaging services, will not be affected.

 

Medicare safety net arrangements

From 1 January 2016, the existing Original Medicare Safety Net, Extended Medicare Safety Net and Greatest Permissible Gap will be replaced by the new Medicare Safety Net. There will be new safety net thresholds of $400 for concessional singles and concessional families, $700 for non-concessional Family Tax Benefit Part A (FTB-A) families and non-concessional singles, and $1,000 for non-concessional families who do not receive FTB-A.


The Medicare Safety Net assists families and singles by contributing towards out-of-pocket costs for Medicare eligible out-of-hospital services. Once the annual thresholds have been reached in a calendar year, Medicare will pay 80% of any subsequent out-of-pocket costs, capped at 150% of the MBS fee. The out-of-pocket costs that accumulate in reaching the safety net thresholds will also be capped at 150% of the MBS fee.

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