If you do not have private health cover, Medicare will cover a portion of your surgical costs. The actual amount is set out in the Medicare Benefits Schedule, a list of operations compiled and updated by the Commonwealth Government. A Medicare rebate is paid toward the operation according to the item number it falls under, with the remaining part of the fee to be paid by the patient. The Medicare rebate you can claim is 75% of the Schedule fee for in hospital expenses such as operations.
Patients need to be aware that the Medicare Benefits Schedule fee will be considerably less than the fee charged by the practice. This is because the Medicare rebate is only intended to cover a portion of the fee and the amounts covered were originally set by the Government in 1985 and have not been adjusted to take into account significant cost increases and inflation. However the AMA issues its own Schedule of Fees based on inflation rates and we use these fees as a guideline for billing.
In addition to the surgical and hospital fees, other out-of-pocket costs are involved which may also include implants and prostheses. We are happy to supply you with a detailed estimate of the expenses involved prior to your treatment.