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Post by Scrubs on Dec 15, 2018 12:12:06 GMT 7
Hi, I am in my early 50s and on a DSP because of Parkinson's Disease. I hold a current Health Care Card.
My disease has progressed slowly so I am still able to drive, but each year I have to renew my Medical Certificate. Every 12 months I require a check up to assess my fitness to hold a drivers licence. This check up has always been bulk billed. However this year the receptionist tells me that the Government has introduced a charge on this service. They want over $100 up-front and tell me I will get about $70 back through Medicare! I was so shocked I almost dropped the phone. The way they talk it is as if $30 is nothing. But for someone like me who is living on welfare from day to day, $30 can mean the difference between having enough money for food to last until next pension day, or going hungry for a day or two. I only use my car once a week to do the shopping and pay bills and to visit my elderly mother who is in a nursing home.
Can anyone please tell me if this new charge is true? Does it now cost over a hundred dollars just for a Medical Certificate from a doctor? If so, when did this become law in Australia? I must admit the first I ever heard about it was when the receptionist told me. I am wondering if anyone can tell me if this is a genuine fee or just something the medical centre has made up in order to get more money out of me? And if so, are their other medical centres that will provide me with a medical test without charging a fee?
This is going to put an added strain on my budget and adds considerably to the cost of my license each year.
I also take issue with the fact that the medical centre now asks me for a urine sample when they test me for the medical certificate. I personally find this extremely offensive and degrading. I have never taken any illegal drugs in my life and the prescribed medications I am taking do not show up as illegal substances in my blood or urine. This seems to be an invasion of basic human rights and is also an invasion of privacy. Since when was it legal for Department of Transport to ask a medical centre to request on the spot urine samples? This is so extreme and makes me feel like a second class citizen. The erosion of basic rights and freedoms in this country continue to go down hill every day. When will the abuses against the disabled and elderly cease?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2018 15:48:26 GMT 7
G'day Scrubs it's hard to research your question re medical certificate without knowing which state you live in; as it will be a state government regulation related to your license.
The urine test will be the same, but I agree; it is over the top because, if someone does come up positive, there's every possibility it would make a target out of the person with the police through the transport data base. Unfortunately I don't think it's likely to get any better in the future because of the legislation both major parties are being bi-partisan with. Cheers bear.
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Post by tasjo on Dec 15, 2018 16:51:44 GMT 7
As bear said it would depend on which state you are in. I would imagine it may also depend on the medical centre...
One thing that might be worth checking though is whether this would be covered under a GP Management Plan. I know mine covers a number of visits per year bulk billed even if my other appts aren't always bulk billed.
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Post by muggins on Dec 15, 2018 18:59:29 GMT 7
'Government has introduced a charge on this service. They want over $100 up-front and tell me I will get about $70 back through Medicare!'
This sounds like one those sneaky little things the government has snuck in with the help of the opposition.
A bit harsh if you ask me.
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Post by Scrubs on Dec 16, 2018 7:45:51 GMT 7
Thank you to all who took the time to reply to my post. I appreciate it greatly.
To answer your main question, I live in Queensland. I am on one of those horrible "GP Management Plans", but I can't say I like it very much. They are forever wanting to send me for some unwanted and unnecessary test or another, which always comes back clear BUT it ends up costing me money. Like recently they wanted me to have a skin check, which lasted like 3 minutes of the doctor's time and they found nothing but charged me $50 for the privilege. It was not covered by Medicare! Then only a month later I discovered a strange spot on my neck and asked the doctor to check it out. He immediately recognized it as a sun spot and froze it off. It was the same doctor. He had missed it during his "two flicks of my hair" head inspection and and 3 minute "full body" skin check that cost me $50!
Another time I mentioned I had been carrying a splinter around in my finger for the past 30 years and the only bother it had formed a callus. Straight away they demand I make an appointment and book me in for next week to get it scanned by ultrasound and have an excision done, plus follow-up appointments. In all it could end up costing me over $100. I ended up cancelling the appointment and I told the receptionist I have had this tiny splinter for decades and so it is not going anywhere, so what is the god-awful hurry?
They are constantly bothering me about all manner of things like this. Since when was it a doctor's right to worry their patients? In the old days it was all about not worrying the patient. Now with this preventative medicine mantra they are all preaching, all they ever do is worry their patients. And at the end of it all the patient can always expect a hefty bill. Generally the nurse sits in front of the computer firing questions at me and spends all of her time staring at the computer screen and typing furiously. She hardly even looks at me the whole time. It is like they are looking at their screens for the questions and answers. Occasionally the GPs get lucky and they do find something wrong, which is of course good in some ways, BUT it also means more money for them. GP Management Plans are a lucrative, financial merry go round practiced by many medical centres today, and if you ask me, that is the black hole down which a lot of Medicare money is pouring. It is really something that I no longer wish to be a part of. All I really need is a doctor who can monitor my illness by way of regular visits and send me for specialist treatment when needed. I really do not need all the hoopla of management plans and the other financial and mental stresses and bother that comes with them. Plus the medical centre I go to is very busy and the doctors are always running late. So you get to sit in a crowded and uncomfortable waiting room hoping you do not catch the bad cough and runny nose from the fellow sitting beside you or any number of other contagious illnesses circulating in the room. It is not uncommon for me to have to wait an hour or more to see a GP or a nurse. I am well and truly fed up with it, and now having to pay over a hundred dollars just to have my license renewed... well that is like the last straw!
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Post by tasjo on Dec 16, 2018 8:04:10 GMT 7
I've had an entirely different experience with my GP Management plan but I would be thinking the same as you of it had gone as yours has  It seems to be so variable between states and practices. Do you have a Medicare office that you can ask or perhaps ask at the roads authority? I know I have sometimes found I get completely different information depending on who I ask |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2018 8:48:49 GMT 7
Too many cooks in the kitchen with all government departments. Same thing thing with Centrelink.
As for these extra, mostly state charges that are popping up all over the place, IMHO, it is because the states are quite happy to subsidize them with federal funding, and when that's cut it's back to user pays for us, and that may possibly be ok; if there was any fat left on the lamb. Cheers bear
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Post by ann on Dec 16, 2018 19:06:04 GMT 7
I recommend you get the actual Item number from the Doctors. Then phone Medicare and give them the number, they will be able to tell you how much they pay for the procedure. Whenever I encounter this sort of thing I always ask for the item number, once I find out how much Medicare reimburse I phone around and get the procedure done at a cheaper clinic. Just my thoughts. It’s astonishing how much the prices vary. You could try this link www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/HomeIt is public information Type in Medicare item numbers if that links no use |
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Post by latindancer on Dec 17, 2018 9:44:02 GMT 7
Yep....just phone around to different clinics. Then double-check with the receptionist when you go in for the appointment, just to avoid any nasty little surprises...
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Post by Scrubs on Dec 18, 2018 5:54:11 GMT 7
Thank you all for the replies. Problem is I live in a country town and we only have one medical centre. If I could go elsewhere I would. I guess they are well aware of the fact they have no competition and that is why they can charge whatever they like. One year they even wanted me to pay for my flu jab because they argued that Parkinsons is not a muscular disease! They ended up giving it to me for free because I kicked up a fuss about it and then they realized that because I also have asthma this means I qualify for the free one anyway.
It should not be this way in my opinion. All medical centres should be charging the same across the board. There should not have to be the stresses and bother associated with ringing around looking for better deals. Most people with disabilities simply do not have the energy. That defeats the purpose in any case, because phone calls also cost money, as does fuel for the car. Wow anybody would think we are now living in the United States, the way things are going. Bring back the old days when friendly family doctors operated out of a corner of their own house on a quiet street corner. Leave the medical centres for the young and trendy who have plenty of money to burn.
I may live in a country town but the medical centre is extremely busy to the point of being chaotic. They have a few doctors on duty on most days, but they are always running late and always seem rushed beyond their limits. As well as servicing the surrounding country areas, this town has an army base, two large abattoirs, and a mine which all attract a large number of foreign workers. I hardly ever get to see one doctor at the medical centre. It is like a roll of the dice who you might get to see after a two to three week wait for an appointment. Even the GP who is supposed to be my "regular doctor" sees me on average about once a year. One time he got so behind with my medical history that he kept printing out scripts for old tablets as well as new ones. If I had not been in possession of my own faculties I could have been double-dosing which would have been very dangerous. I told him about it and he got angry with me and accused me of doctor shopping! He wanted to know where I got these other scripts from? I replied calmly that they came from the specialist and gave his name. He snapped "Who is he? Never heard of him!" I had been seeing this specialist for years and this GP was the one who wrote my referrals! What a joke! But he still kept giving me the old prescriptions every time I needed scripts. Eventually about a year later I got to see another doctor and mentioned this ongoing problem to her. This was after she had also printed out the scripts for old tablets. She replied that this is easily fixed and she deleted them off the computer. Why couldn't the other doctor have done that?
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Post by Scrubs on Dec 18, 2018 6:10:01 GMT 7
I also wonder, if the Government can get away with imposing this fee on those who are on DSP, how long will it be before they introduce it for all medical certificates? This will mean people who are already struggling on Newstart will be unable to afford to "buy" a medical certificate from their GP. If they have to pay $100 up-front for each day they are ill, the cost alone will, in effect, deny them of their right to advise Centrelink that they are ill. How Draconian is that? If such a policy is not already in effect, my guess is it soon will be! The Government never ceases to surprise me when it comes to just how low they are prepared to stoop in their efforts to find new ways to punish welfare recipients.
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Post by jr on Dec 18, 2018 15:24:21 GMT 7
Unfortunately medical centres (and doctors) can choose what to charge for their services some are great and bulk bill low income earners and pensioners and some don’t and charge above and beyond the Medicare scheduled fee. I also wish it was mandated so all charges were set the same and remained affordable for everyone. |
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Post by mspurple on Dec 19, 2018 10:14:45 GMT 7
I think you will find that even driving instructors, taxi drivers, truck drivers (anyone who needs a special allowance to continue to use the road) have to have regular drug tests to pass the medical assessment for the transport department. This has been a requirement for years and personally I think it is a good thing even if you do feel it is an invasion of your basic rights. The others on the road have the right to be safe from drug affected drivers so if you look at it that way it is not a personal thing aimed just at you. The government must take into account all areas when giving a person with illnesses or medications that affect or may affect driving a continued right to use the road. They are responsible to make sure all people licensed are hopefully as safe as possible while on the roads. Their checks and rules do not catch everyone out and sometimes waste time testing/checking the wrong people but they do not know till they test!
As for the medical billing, I think that all changed quite some time back and gave the individual clinics the right to choose what they charge for and what they offer as bulk billed. I am not certain of this but I do know there were some changes made a while back.
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