Some information about anaesthesia fees

There will be a gap between the fee for your anaesthetic and the rebates from Medicare and your insurer. It would be more accurate to call it an insurance shortfall and it is the direct result of federal government policy.

Your Medicare rebate has not been indexed adequately by the federal government and has been steadily eaten away by inflation over many years.

The Effect of Inflation on Medicare Rebates from 1970 to 2006

Over the same period the costs of running a quality medical practice have increased at a rate greater than inflation, for example, the premium for medical indemnity insurance has increased by a factor of more than six hundred.

Successive federal governments have reduced their support for private medical care and blamed the medical profession when gaps are the inevitable result.

Anaesthetists constitute 5% of all Australian doctors but our patients only receive 2.5% of all Medicare rebates. An equal share of rebates for all patients would reduce anaesthetic gaps.

Of every $100 that you pay in private health insurance premiums only $12 goes to doctors, of this only $1.70 is paid to anaesthetists. Administration and hospital costs account for the rest.

Each anaesthetist in this practice sets his own fees. As a general guideline, for most procedures, your anaesthetic fee will be in excess of the Medicare rebate but less than the fee that the Australian Medical Association recommend as being fair and reasonable. You will receive a written estimate of your anaesthetic fee and estimated gap before your operation as part of our policy of informed financial consent. Uninsured patients are requested to pay the gap in advance.

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