Medicare anomaly?

If you  pay a medical bill that is not fully covered by Medicare, the medico's office usually electronically sends the data to Medicare, and a partial  refund goes to your bank account.

I  paid a bill at a dermotologist office yesterday, but  was told they could not send the data to Medicare, because there was more then one procedure on the bill.

I had to take the bill and receipt to a Medicare office.

This was the first time I'd heard of this.

Anybody else experience this?

 

5 comments

Cannot say I ever struck that Ted ... might be better to find another dermatologist ???

Now that the medicare office is inside Centrelink where I live it is just awful.  Thankfully only had to go there once.

 Health care in Australia a view from the right. The right believes in all areas as much choice and power should be in the hands of the individual to achieve the best outcomes at lowest cost . 
The situation today . Australia runs a privatised system for delivery of health but a partial socialised system of payment for these services resulting in waste . 
The privatised system of delivery is in the hands of corporate clinics or declining small business for GPs the first point of contact for most health needs . 
Specialists , dentists , etc are all private concerns . 
Hospitals are stand alone public corporations or religiose organisations or private bodies . 
Pharmacies are fully owed private companies 
Payment . 
Insurance is collected by the State as a regressive tax the more you earn the more you pay even though your health needs are the same . The collections cover about a third of the cost the rest is covered by taxpayers .
Private health cover is compulsary for all taxpayers failure to have results in a higher income tax . 


2.10 According to the Department of Health:

Of the $140.2 billion spent on health care in Australia in 2011–12 ($6 230 per capita), a total of $24.3 billion was from out-of-pocket payments by individuals (adjusted for the Net Medical  


Australian study showed that, in 2000, Australians spent $2.3 billion on alternative therapies, a 62% increase since 1993.3-5 Similar findings have been made in the United States6 and Great Britain . 

What is wrong with the Australia system 

As with all socialised systems when you take out personal responsibility it leads to waste . 

As an example having free GP visits ( 85 per cent bulk bilked ) leads to overuse and churning by corporate clinics . 

Free "public hospitals " Hospitals are not obliged to insist on declaration of private health cover . With the result that patients do not declare and taxpayers bear the cost . 

Dental systems are not covered . 

What do the right suggest . 

As with what superannuation should be a tax free saving environment for age so should there be the same system for health . 

Where you build your own fund to spend at your discretion with insurance for traumatic events . ( Study Singapore) Choice and personal responsibility would lead to competion and lower costs . 

A revised welfare system based on income would cover those not in paid employment . 

 

I never knew there were any more Medicare offices -- I thought they had already shut down --

I have always had my amount sent to my bank account straight away

Tedwalker, they didn't take the time to give you the correct explanation. You can have more than one procedure on a bill and get your entitlement. Your dermatologist probably hasn't got the correct software integrated into their system to process your claim.

Thanks Banjo.

I'll check with them at my next appointment there.

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