| Publication: | ABC News |
|---|---|
| Date: | 30 March 2010 |
| Section: | National |
A Newcastle psychiatrist says he is concerned that NIB's decision to cut its cover for hospital psychiatric treatment may encourage other private health insurers to follow suit.
Dr Alan Weiss says he is concerned that many patients will now miss out on care because they will not be deemed sick enough to be treated in the public system.
NIB has defended the changes to psychiatric cover, saying it needed to rein in costs.
Dr Weiss says now that NIB is a publicly-listed company, it cannot ignore its shareholders.
"I'd like to think it's not but I suspect it may well be, that now that the body they are looking after is their shareholders, not their consumers," he said.
"If we just ignore what NIB are doing, many of the other health funds will think, 'oh they can do it, we'll do it too', and then we're left in a very difficult situation."
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