Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Australia has a world-class health system, largely thanks to the various health benefits schemes such as Medicare which help Australians pay for the healthcare they need. In 2023-24, payments for health benefits including medical services, pharmaceutical services and private health insurance rebates totalled at least $65.1 billion. The government is committed to protecting this investment and strengthening Medicare by improving the compliance framework that ensures its integrity. The government commissioned the independent review of Medicare integrity and compliance, known as the Philip review, in November 2022 to respond to concerns about the operation of the Medicare system. The Health Insurance Amendment (Professional Services Review Scheme) Act 2023 and the Health Insurance Amendment (Professional Services Review Scheme No. 2) Act 2023 made amendments in response to the recommendations of that Philip review.

This bill will support the integrity and sustainability of Medicare by addressing a range of issues to enable the department to conduct more efficient, timely and effective compliance activities. The bill will improve payment integrity by reducing the time for making bulk-billed claims. The bill will allow investigative powers to be used consistently and effectively across all health schemes, including Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and will improve the processes relating to pharmacy approvals. The bill also makes several sensible amendments to the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 to enhance the Department of Health and Aged Care's capacity to manage and alleviate the consequences of therapeutic goods shortages and support compliance and enforcement activities undertaken in relation to unlawful therapeutic goods and unlawful vaping goods. These amendments are consistent with this government's unwavering commitment to public health and mitigate the public health risks associated with therapeutic goods and vaping goods by supporting strong and effective regulation under the Therapeutic Goods Act.

The bill also amends the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023. These amendments are largely clarifying in nature and have been identified as necessary during implementation to ensure the smooth and consistent operation of the act.

I thank the members for their contribution to the debate on this bill.

See this speech in context