Aussies pay high price for health

Device cuts looming

THE federal government is expected to outline plans to slash the costs of medical devices like hip replacements, stents and pacemakers in Tuesday’s budget to bring down health fund premiums.

And major reforms to mental health are also expected.

It comes as the NT News can reveal Aussies are paying up to 210 per cent more than French patients for medical devices, including those made by Australian companies.

A Members Health Fund Alliance investigation has found Australians are paying up to $4200 more for the same medical devices as patients in France.

Hip replacement was found to be 148 to 210 per cent more expensive in Australia.

Pacemakers ranged from 23 to 81 per cent more expensive in Australia, including Medtronic’s Azure XT DR MRI SureScan which cost $4173.54 more. A Medtronic spokesperson said price variations were due to “the structure and funding of healthcare models”.

Even Cochlear’s hearing implants ranged from 11 to 84 per cent more expensive in Australia, a French price list obtained by the lobby group has exposed.

“The big multinational device companies appear to see Australia’s regulatory environment as a licence to print money. We have heard that some think Australia is so profitable they call it ‘Treasure Island’,” Member’s Health Fund Alliance chief executive Matthew Koce said.

“It is imperative for Australian consumers that the 2021 federal budget deliver further substantive reform of prostheses to help Australian households,” he said.

Health funds have asked the government to set an average price for medical devices to save their members $500m and stop premiums rising by at least 1 per cent per annum.

“If we paid the same price as consumers in New Zealand and South Africa, the cost would be $3-4bn less, and less again if we lived in France or the United Kingdom,” Bupa managing director Emily Amos said.

The change is being resisted by medical device companies who argue if patients or surgeons chose a device that cost more than the average, the patient might have to fund the extra cost out of their own pocket. Medical Technology Association Australia chief Ian Burgess said health funds had profited from two excessive, above inflation premiums increases in the past six months while saving $1.1bn on devices prices under previous reforms.