CATARACT SURGERY CUTS WILL AFFECT CONSTITUENTS
The Member for Berowra, Philip Ruddock MP along with the Coalition has called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to step-in and sort out Health Minister Nicola Roxon’s cataract rebate blunder.
“The Rudd Government’s attempt to tinker with the extreme 50% cut to Medicare rebates will greatly affect my constituents,” Mr Ruddock said.
“Essentially what the Government said is that patients will now be just under $300 worse off as opposed to just over $300 worse off.”
The Government had budgeted to cut rebates for cataract surgery from $623.70 to $312.63. But after the Senate yesterday disallowed the changes, Minister Roxon’s solution was to increase the rebate to $340.76 – a paltry $28 rise.
“The Senate in October sent a very clear message: That they do not want the Federal government to cut this rebate for cataract surgery, we do not want you to hurt patients, they do not want you to impose $300 in additional out-of-pocket expenses and we do not want you to push people over into public hospitals or into not having the surgery at all.”
“The Rudd Government claimed that technology had made cataract surgery faster and now only took 15 minutes to perform and therefore rebates for the procedure could be drastically reduced, but it had produced no evidence to back up its claims and the Coalition stands by its commitment to do everything we can to ensure the current rebates remain,” Philip Ruddock said.
Attachment Tables
Show the fees (Table 1 – Large Table) set by Medicare as a value for a particular treatment of which it then pays 75% as a rebate to patients (Table 2 – Small Table).
Each shows the Existing Fee/Rebate, the Government’s planned reduction (Disallowed Fee/Rebate), the new Fee/Rebate announced today and the difference between the Disallowed Fee/Rebate and the new Fee/Rebate.
It is the Rebate Table (Table 2 – Small Table) that is important and the one that counts for patients.
Changes to the Cataract item numbers
as proposed by the Minister 29 October 2009
Proposed change to Medicare Schedule Fees
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Item
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Medicare Item Descriptors
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Existing Fee
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Disallowed Fee
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New
Schedule Fee
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Difference between disallowed fee and new fee
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42698
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Lens extraction, excluding surgery performed to correct a refractive error, other than anisometropia that exceeds 3 dioptres and develops after the removal of cataract in the first eye (Anaes.)
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$650.25
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$325.95
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$350.95
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$25.00
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42701
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Artificial lens, insertion of, excluding surgery performed to correct a refractive error, other than anisometropia that exceeds 3 dioptres and develops after the removal of cataract in the first eye (Anaes.)
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$362.60
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$181.75
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$206.75
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$25.00
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42702
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Lens extraction and insertion of artificial lens, excluding surgery performed to correct a refractive error, other than anisometropia that exceeds 3 dioptres and develops after the removal of cataract in the first eye (Anaes.)
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$831.60
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$416.85
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$454.35
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$37.50
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42718
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Complex lens extraction and insertion of artificial lens, with a surgical procedure time of 40 minutes or more, excluding surgery performed for the correction of refractive error (other than anisometropia greater than 3 dioptres following the removal of cataract in the first eye) (Anaes.)
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$0
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$850.75
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$900.75
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$50.00
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Resulting change to Medicare rebate (rebate is calculated at 75 per cent of scheduled fee)
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Item No
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Existing Rebate
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Disallowed Rebate
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New Rebate
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Difference between disallowed rebate and new rebate
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42698
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$487.69
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$244.46
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$263.21
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$18.75
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42701
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$271.95
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$136.31
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$155.06
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$18.75
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42702
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$623.70
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$312.64
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$340.76
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$28.13
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42718
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$0.00
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$638.06
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$675.56
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$37.50
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