X-rays will cost up to $1,000 up front

Remember how in the budget they say it's only going to be another $7 if you have an x-ray? Well at the very least that's misleading. The truth is that the $7 charge is only for pensioners (it might as well be $700 as I still can't afford it). Everyone else has to pay up front what the x-ray will cost and then go through the slow process of getting whatever is available for it through Medicare. Some of those up front costs could be up to $1,000 per x-ray, and you're still out of pocket even after the Medicare rebate.

The rebate Medicare provides for a scan for a general patient will be slashed from 95 to 85 per cent and then by a further $5 as a result of the government’s new policy that free medical care should end. 

Radiologists will only be able to bulk bill patients if they charge a $7 fee but this will not recoup the losses they make from a 10 per cent cut it the rebate and they say they will have to charge more than $7. 

Therefore, under Medicare rules, when a patient is not bulk billed they must be charged the full fee upfront and then claim a rebate back from Medicare. 

Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association CEO Pattie Beerens says this means general patients should have to pay $90 upfront for an x-ray, $380 for a CAT scan, up to $160 for a mammogram and up to $190 for an ultrasound. A PET scan will cost over $1000 upfront. 

Patients who need to pay more than $7 will have to get the rebate from Medicare which will not cover the full cost of the scan leaving them with an out of pocket expense of up to $160 for a scan. 

Radiologist Dr Padnya Dugal says the out of pocket cost for a CAT scan could be $130, a bone scan $95. more  

I trust that the senate has it's eyes on this too, as part of it's opposition to Medicare changes.