Bill
Health Insurance Amendment (Bonded Medical Programs Reform) Bill 2019
lapsed, as at 2019-04-11. Health portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Health
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2019-04-04
- second reading — 2019-04-04
- other — 2019-04-11
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2019-04-04.
The bill would create a single legal framework for the Bonded Medical Program, which requires participants to work in regional, rural, remote or workforce-shortage areas in return for a government-supported medical school place.
It would give the minister power to make rules to keep the program current and allow the Secretary to decide whether existing participants can voluntarily join the new scheme, which would eventually replace individual contracts.
From 1 January 2020, new participants would need to serve a three-year return-of-service obligation, down from six years under the old Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship scheme and from four to six years under the earlier Bonded Medical Places scheme.
- The bill establishes a statutory scheme for the Bonded Medical Program, covering the existing Bonded Medical Places and Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship schemes.
- It reduces the return-of-service obligation for new participants to three years, compared with up to six years under the current arrangements.
- It allows existing participants to voluntarily opt into the new scheme if the Secretary agrees.
- It requires participants to use a web-portal for program administration.
- It gives participants a right to internal review of certain Secretary decisions and access to review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
- It gives the minister power to make Bonded Medical Program rules to update the program.
Medical students and doctors who hold or accept bonded Commonwealth-supported places, especially those in regional, rural, remote or workforce-shortage areas, and the Department of Health.
Sources
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