Bill
Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Bill 2024
passed, as at 2024-07-09. Health and Aged Care portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Health and Aged Care
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2024-05-29
- second reading — 2024-05-29
- second reading — 2024-06-04
- second reading — 2024-06-05
- second reading — 2024-06-05
- third reading — 2024-06-05
- introduced — 2024-06-24
- second reading — 2024-06-24
- second reading — 2024-07-02
- second reading — 2024-07-02
- third reading — 2024-07-02
- passed — 2024-07-02
- royal assent — 2024-07-09
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 2024-05-29.
The bill would update rules for assigning Medicare benefits in bulk-billed and simplified billing services to reduce upfront costs for patients and administrative burdens for providers.
It would allow patients to assign their Medicare benefit before or after a service, enable ongoing assignments, and let regulations replace approved forms with prescribed information.
The bill would remove imprisonment for failing to provide a copy of an assignment and reduce civil penalties from 10 to 5 penalty units.
- Allow assignment of Medicare benefit before or after a service is rendered.
- Enable enduring (ongoing) assignment agreements for future services.
- Shift the duty to retain a copy of the assignment agreement from the patient to the practitioner.
- Require practitioners, insurers or billing agents to notify patients about claims on assigned benefits.
- Remove the requirement for practitioners to co-sign an assignment agreement.
- Reduce civil penalties from 10 to 5 penalty units and remove imprisonment for failing to provide a copy of an assignment.
Patients, health service providers, practitioners, private health insurers, approved billing agents, hospitals, and the Chief Executive of Medicare.
Sources
em
billhome
frl act