In our discussion of the increasing cost of private health insurance yesterday, various issues were raised but one that seemed to be of particular concern of talk back callers to the program was the cost of anaesthetics associated with hospitalisation in private hospitals. Somebody pointed to the fact that the gap between the schedule fee for anaesthetics administered in private hospitals and what was actually charged was consistently one of the major problems that people encountered when using in private hospitals. Thanks very much, Terry. It certainly is and it's one that is clearly of concern not only to us and to our patients but also to the health funds and to the Government.
Gaps are one of the reasons why people are dropping out the private health insurance scheme.
I think for anaesthetists in general to charge more than the AMA fee. There might be one or two who charge more than the recommended AMA fee. Most anaesthetists would charge at or below the maximum recommended AMA fee. And in general, that fee would be about three times the scheduled fee. The schedule fee is meant to represent a reasonable independent estimate of what the recommended fee is.