Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025 is about strengthening Medicare. It's about making sure that Australians can see a doctor when they need to, our health system keeps up with modern technology and every dollar of public investment in health delivers better care for patients. For more than 40 years, Medicare has been at the heart of who we are as a nation. It reflects our belief that access to health care should depend on your Medicare card, not your credit card.

Under the Albanese Labor government, Medicare has been renewed and strengthened through cheaper medicines, record investment in bulk-billing, new Medicare urgent care clinics and support for doctors and nurses across the country. This bill builds on that work. It makes practical, sensible changes to help health professionals do their jobs and make it easier for Australians to get the care they need. It also helps to protect the integrity of Medicare, ensuring that systems, payments and regulations are modern, secure and fair.

This bill makes targeted amendments to four main areas, automating the allocation of Medicare provider numbers, strengthening the private health insurance rebate system, supporting the transition to modern, digital bulk-billing and simplified billing, and updating the Bonded Medical Program to better reflect today's workforce realities. Each of these changes contributes to a stronger, more efficient and fairer healthcare system.

The first part of the bill deals with Medicare provider numbers, the unique numbers that identify health professionals and their practice locations. Under current arrangements, new practitioners, especially overseas trained doctors, often wait weeks or even months before receiving their provider number. That means they cannot bill Medicare, even if they are ready and qualified to work. The review that was conducted into this, an independent review of Australia's regulatory settings for overseas health practitioners, found that in some cases these delays could stretch to three months. During that time, doctors are unable to see patients, and communities go without much-needed care.

This bill fixes that. It allows the chief executive of Medicare to approve the use of secure computer systems to allocate provider numbers automatically where all eligibility checks have been met. Importantly, any decision to refuse an application will still be made by a person, not a computer, ensuring human oversight and accountability. This reform will speed up the process for new practitioners to begin work, reduce administrative burden and help address workforce shortages, particularly in areas where doctors are needed most. It is a practical measure that reflects modern realities. We should not have highly trained doctors sitting idle because of paperwork delays. By supporting automation where appropriate, this bill will make it faster and easier for health professionals to start treating patients, while maintaining strong safeguards that protect patients and uphold Medicare's integrity.

The second key reform in this bill ensures that the private health insurance rebate system operates consistently with the law and continues to support affordability for millions of Australians. The Australian government spends about $7.8 billion each year, helping Australians with the cost of private health insurance premiums. These rebates are an important part of keeping private cover affordable and relieving pressure on the public hospital system. However, over time, some administrative systems used to process these rebates have not fully aligned with legislative requirements. The bill corrects that, aligning the registration and the claims process, under the Private Health Insurance Act 2007, with current technology and practices. It introduces a new self-assessment model for private health insurers, ensures appropriate checks and documentation and allows the chief executive of Medicare to approve automated decision-making for certain administrative tasks. These updates will not change the rebate amounts people receive, but they will strengthen the integrity of the system and protect taxpayers' money. They ensure that payments are lawful, accurate and recoverable if errors occur. This is about making sure every rebate dollar is correctly spent and that consumers continue to benefit from affordable health insurance.

The third and perhaps most significant part of this bill focuses on modernising the assignment of Medicare benefits—the process that underpins bulk-billing. When a patient assigns their right to a Medicare benefit to their doctor or clinic, Medicare pays that benefit directly to the provider. That simple transaction—signing over your benefit so you pay nothing upfront—is what makes bulk-billing possible, but, for decades, that process has been based on outdated paper based systems designed in the 1980s. This bill brings Medicare into the digital age. It remedies technical issues identified in the Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Act 2024 and allows time for the new digital assignment systems to be built, tested and adopted safely. Specifically, it postpones the start of the new arrangements from January 2026 to July 2026, giving software developers, medical providers and patients more time to prepare. These changes are essential to ensure a smooth transition. By allowing the digital assignment of Medicare benefits, Australians will be able to bulk-bill without needing to sign paper forms. It will make life easier for patients and providers alike. Because the Albanese Labor government has tripled the bulk-billing incentive for pensioners, concession card holders and families with children, this bill will help make sure that those new incentives flow smoothly and securely through the digital system.

This work is part of Labor's broader commitment to strengthen Medicare and to make it easier to see a doctor. Labor's reforms have restored bulk-billing for 11 million Australians and delivered on an extra six million bulk-billed visits across the country. This bill ensures the technology behind Medicare keeps up with that progress. It protects the foundations of a fair, modern healthcare system where bulk-billing remains central to how Australians access care.

In Tasmania, these reforms will make a real difference. We know Tasmanians value Medicare deeply, but too many still struggle to find a bulk-billing GP or face long waits for appointments. The government's investment in bulk-billing and urgent care clinics are already helping to change that. In Hobart, the two Medicare urgent care clinics have provided thousands of free, walk-in consultations, offering an alternative to hospital emergency departments for families needing care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions. Across the state, more Tasmanians can now see a bulk-billing doctor without worrying about the cost. Tripling the bulk-billing incentive has made it viable again for many clinics to return to bulk-billing.

This bill ensures that those new incentives roll out from 1 November 2025 and the technology and payment system supporting them are up to date and functioning properly. For Tasmanians, that means smoother billing, faster payments to clinics and fewer administrative barriers for doctors, especially those in regional areas who are already carrying heavy workloads. It will also help ensure that the $7.9 billion in bulk-billing incentive payments announced in the 2025 election reach frontline providers on time. Combined with Labor's new investments in women's health, mental health and cheaper medicines, this bill supports a health system that works better for everyone, from families in Hobart's northern suburbs to older Tasmanians on the north-west coast. Labor's Medicare urgent care clinics, endo clinics, pelvic pain clinics and Medicare mental health centres are all designed around the same goal: accessibility, affordability and community based care.

These reforms are delivering real results. In Tasmania, families are saving money on prescriptions; older Australians are seeing doctors without out-of-pocket costs; and patients who once turned to emergency departments can now access timely, free care in their own communities. This bill supports that success by ensuring Medicare systems are modern, secure and efficient.

The final part of the bill makes important changes to the Bonded Medical Program, a program that encourages medical graduates to work in regional, rural and remote communities. These amendments remove that outdated, six-year Medicare ban for doctors who do not complete their return-of-service obligation, balancing fairness with community need. They also ensure that workers complete it in good faith, including under earlier schemes or in eligible areas misidentified by government. They can still count towards that obligation. These changes make the program more consistent and fairer for participants while ensuring communities continue to benefit from access to doctors. The aim is clear: to strengthen regional medical access by supporting a fair and sustainable approach for the health professionals who serve those areas.

This bill is a practical step towards a stronger Medicare, one that works for patients, practitioners and the community. It makes it easier for doctors to get provider numbers and ensures rebates are handled lawfully and efficiently. It modernises the way patients assign their Medicare benefits and keeps the Bonded Medical Program fair and effective. Together, these measures help deliver the government's vision for a health system that is fair, modern and fit for the future. They also sit alongside an historic investment in bulk-billing, cheaper medicines, hospital funding and urgent care, all central to Labor's mission to make health care universal and affordable. The Albanese Labor government believes that, when Australians are healthy, our communities are stronger. That is why we are investing in Medicare like never before, with more doctors, more bulk-billing and better care across every state and territory. I commend the bill to the Senate.