Responding to Health Minister Susan Ley’s recent announcement on cost-cutting reforms to medical devices and prostheses, CPD Fellow Ian McAuley is cautious in assessing the utility and benefit of the policy.

Currently the cost of important devices and prosthetics, such as cardiac devices including pacemakers, hip and knee replacements, and lenses to treat eye degeneration are higher for consumers with private insurance than those in the public system. As part of the government’s ongoing review of the private insurance industry, the new policy intends to cut costs for insurers by $500 million over the coming six years.

The government hopes that these savings will be passed onto customers, but Ian points out that this may not materialise as intended due to the multitude of insurers in the market. For Ian, this is further evidence for the need for a single national insurer, an ongoing subject of his research.

Read Ian’s comments in the Guardian here.