Rebecca White (Lyons, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

The Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No.1) Bill 2025 makes important changes to legislation within the health portfolio to support our government's delivery of a stronger Medicare including more bulk-billing and thousands more doctors.

Schedule 1 to the bill will amend the Health Insurance Act 1973 to make sure Medicare provider numbers can be allocated to new practitioners in a faster and more streamlined way.

Amendments made by schedule 1 to the bill will enable the Chief Executive Medicare to approve the use of a computer program to make appropriate, non-discretionary decisions to allocate Medicare provider numbers.

This will speed up the process of applying for a provider number, while all decisions to refuse a provider number would continue to be checked and authorised by the Chief Executive Medicare or their delegate.

The bill will also validate previously issued Medicare provider numbers that were issued by a computer program.

Overseas health professionals often face lengthy waits to receive their Medicare provider number. This delays them from commencing work in the Australian health system.

In fact, the Independent Review of Australia's Regulatory Settings Relating to Overseas Health Practitioners, led by Robyn Kruk AO, reported that the wait time can be up to three months.

Reducing the time it takes for Medicare provider numbers to be issued will help us grow our medical workforce sooner and start treating patients under Medicare quicker.

Growing and supporting the health workforce is a priority for our government. Having the right workforce with the right skills in the right place is critical to the success of the government's agenda to strengthen Medicare.

We are working with state and territory governments, education providers and regulators to implement the recommendations of the Kruk review.

This will ease shortages in the health workforce by removing unnecessary barriers and expediting regulatory processes to bring more skilled health practitioners to Australia.

The efficiencies that can be realised through implementation of this bill will lead to reduced processing times and allow health practitioners to provide services to the Australian community more quickly.

Internationally qualified health practitioners currently supplement the domestic workforce and aid in addressing workforce shortages, making for a more sustainable health workforce overall.

Schedule 2 to the bill will amend chapters 2, 5 and 6 of the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to support the process for claiming the private health insurance rebate under the premiums reduction scheme.

The private health insurance rebate is an initiative designed to make private health insurance more affordable for Australians by funding part of their premiums.

The premium reductions scheme allows eligible people to choose to get the rebate at the time they pay their private health insurance premiums, rather than pay the full cost of the premium, and then claim a deduction back through their tax return at the end of the financial year.

Under the scheme, the insurer reduces the premium payable by the policyholder by the amount of the rebate and then claims reimbursement of that amount through a system administered by Services Australia.

As a result of systems limitations, some elements of the registration and claims-processing system were being administered inconsistently with the requirements of the act.

Schedule 2 of the bill will therefore amend the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to:

A participating insurer will continue to be subject to regular post-payment compliance activities to ensure the integrity of the payment process.

Schedule 3 to the bill will make essential changes to allow regulations to be made to modernise assignments of the Medicare benefits process. This process underpins Medicare bulk-billing.

Last year, the parliament passed the Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Act 2024, providing for generational change to modernise and simplify how patients assign their Medicare benefits.

These changes recognised that patients and healthcare providers are no longer using paper based processes that existed when Medicare was first set up over 40 years ago.

This bill will build on these changes and remedy minor issues identified during the drafting of supporting regulations for the Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Act 2024.

It will also extend the time available for software vendors to build and test new digital solutions, and for medical industry providers and patients to prepare for the changes.

Bulk-billing is vital for timely and equitable access to health care. Access to bulk-billed medical care helps with cost-of-living pressures and ensures every Australian receives the best health care they deserve.

This bill provides for regulations to specify the circumstances in which enduring bulk-billing agreements can be made. This will streamline the administration of MBS claiming, when services are bulk-billed by a preferred provider or organisation.

The bill will also enable the minister to issue a legislative instrument to categorise professional services for application in bulk-billing assignment agreements.

This will support the use of pre-assignment agreements, giving patients simple yet meaningful information to assign their benefits before services have been provided.

The amendments will support simplified and streamlined billing for privately insured hospital systems, so they do not have to deal with bills from multiple providers.

The bill will clarify wording to ensure that any eligible person covered under a private health insurance policy can assign their own Medicare benefits, not just the person in whose name the policy is held.

It also amends mandatory notification requirements to reduce the administrative burden and cost for providers.

The bill will delay the commencement of new assignment-of-benefit arrangements from 9 January 2026 to 1 July 2026. This will provide stakeholders with an additional six months to prepare before the new arrangements commence.

Schedule 4 to the bill will amend part VD of the Health Insurance Act 1973 to ensure the consequences for bonded medical program participants who withdraw from the program or fail to complete their 'return of service obligation' are fair. The changes balance the personal circumstances of the bonded participant with the broader interests of the community.

The bill provides capacity to make rules to ensure that past work completed by bonded participants—delivering health services in regional, rural and remote locations in Australia—can be fairly and consistently counted towards their 'return of service obligation'.

I commend this bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.

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