The Budget

The 08/09 budget has been announced, and unfortunately IVF rebates will be capped. Not only that, obstetrics rebates will also be capped. I am lucky that these don't kick until 2010, but I feel really sorry for those people who need IVF treatment in the future. I feel sick that I voted for this government.

The Government will introduce a cap on Medicare benefits payable under the
Extended Medicare Safety Net for a range of items with excessive fees, including
to all assisted reproductive technology items and items for treatment of
varicose veins, the injection of a therapeutic substance into the eye, hair
transplants and a cataract surgery item. The caps will take effect from
1 January 2010.

In 2008, expenditure on the Extended Medicare Safety Net was $414.1 million, an increase of 29.7 per cent from the previous year. The items to be capped accounted for around 28 per cent of all expenditure on the Extended Medicare Safety Net in 2008 and the expenditure on these items has grown at an average rate of approximately 50 per cent per year for the past two years.

There is evidence that the Extended Medicare Safety Net has enabled some doctors to charge excessive fees resulting in windfalls being paid by taxpayers through Medicare. (How about the improvements in technology in that time, surely that is a contributing factor also!) The cap will encourage patients whose doctors charge excessive fees to seek other providers who charge more reasonable fees. (We only have a couple of clinics as it is! There isnt any choice!) The Extended Medicare Safety Net was introduced in the 2003‑04 Budget.
This measure will provide savings of $257.9 million over four years.