The health fund quandary

What a farce, 22 years after being granted health fund rebates for our services, then have it gone in one fell conservative swoop. I promise not to harp on about this ridiculous state of affairs. All I shall say is we are a science-based profession with thousands of clinical trials supporting our prescriptive advice.

On the brighter side, if we look carefully at the amount of money we pay on extra cover and the amount we receive in rebates each year. Is it worth it?
Every service such as naturopathy, physiotherapy, massage is capped at miniscule amounts. With a yearly total limit of not very much.

It has been an eye-opener for me, I have recently calculated how much I spent in fees and how much I have received in rebates over the past three years, and it was quite a wake-up call.

Also in May the Australian Regional Health Group (ARHG) who is a service provider to some 27 health funds have tentatively agreed to recognise nutritionists and provide a rebate for their services. (I am also a qualified nutritionist.) So we wait to hear the results of the ongoing discussions with our association the ATMS.

There is still a glimmer of hope for other health funds as the Health Minister, Greg Hunt announced on 7 April a new review of natural remedied rebates. His statement said that new review will “assess additional available evidence for natural therapies, undertake public consultation and provide advice to Government on whether certain natural therapies should be eligible for subsidy through the private health insurance rebate.”

Let’s hope the government comes to its senses, and recognises our worth, yet again.