Publication: Adelaide Now
Date: 11 August 2010
Section: Opinion
Article excerpt:
AT FIRST glance, patients with private health insurance who do not declare their cover when admitted to a public hospital might seem to be rorting the system. Unquestionably, this practice is a burden on the system with State Government health authorities estimating it costs up to an extra $31 million a year.
The Government is entitled to encourage people to be admitted as private patients and thereby reduce the cost to the state Budget. However, Australian and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents have a right to be treated as public patients.
... Going private gives a better choice of medical practitioner, higher eligibility for single rooms and facilities but comes at the additional expense of paying a gap or an excess fee. If insurers did have to pay for more of their clients' hospital expenses, it would inevitably force premiums to rise. This would make insurance more costly and lead to more people deciding insurance was unaffordable and dropping out.
... What is needed is greater co-operation between tiers of government, medical practitioners and insurers in ways that are transparent and accountable to the public.
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