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CANBERRA is planning an offensive against doctors who hit patients with unexpected bills.
The move comes after a new survey identified 898,724 cases in a single year where patients were caught out by shock charges.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon this morning flagged the crackdown in a speech to the health insurance industry, which wants the practice stamped out to reduce membership drop-out rates.
The data she released showed the gap between what patients pay and what they can claim back has widened dramatically between 2006 and 2007.
Some 42 per cent of all private patients were left out of pocket last year, with the average gap jumping by over a fifth to $787, the annual Informed Financial Consent survey reveals.
Average gap charges rose by as much as 400 per cent above health inflation over the 12-month period for individual specialities, with the biggest jump seen in charges levied by vascular surgeons, from $226 in 2006 to $1189 in 2007.
They also varied wildly across jurisdictions.
NSW doctors billed almost three times as much ($1001) in average gap fees than the Northern Territory ($318).
The areas of medicine most likely to charge patients extra without telling them of the costs ahead of time were anaesthesiology, pathology, radiology, X-rays, ultrasounds and other tests.
"Despite much effort and attention, the instances of surprise gaps are still too common','' Ms Roxon said.
She said she firmly believed more could be done to inform consumers, and wanted to give their interests more weight than in the past.
"It is time to get this right, and provide some certainly for consumers,'' Ms Roxon said.
The minister's focus on the lack of progress in securing consent from patients on treatment costs is likely to further alienate the medical profession.
In August, Ms Roxon angered the Australian Medical Association when she took the side of health insurers eager for direct efficiency comparisons between private and public hospitals, despite doctors' concerns the plan would give health funds too much power to direct treatments.
Her statements today should both placate health insurers which strongly oppose the Government's plan to increase the Medicare levy surcharge threshold, and pressure their alliance with the AMA in the campaign against the measure.
The survey data has been kept under wraps since last year, drawing attention to the timing of its release by Government.
The change to the surcharge threshold, voted down in the Senate last month, could be brought back to Parliament as early as next week.
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Government moves on unexpected doctor's bills
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