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Health Insurance (Dental Services) Bill 2012
Explanatory Memorandum
GENERAL OUTLINE
The Bill requires the Minister for Health, in conjunction with such other Ministers as may be
necessary, to redress past and future inequities that have arisen from the operation of
subsection 10(2) of the Health Insurance (Dental Services) Determination 2007.
The Bill describes the inequities imposed on dental practitioners by the operation of the
subsection of the Determination and specifies five courses of action which the Minister can
take to redress those inequities.
It establishes a timeframe in which action is to be taken and requires a report to be tabled in
both Houses of Parliament detailing the actions taken.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 - Short title
Clause 1 provides for the Act to be cited as the Health Insurance (Dental Services) Act 2012.
Clause 2 - Commencement
This clause sets out the commencement date of the Bill as the day of Royal Assent.
Clause 3 - Definitions
Clause 3 specifies the definitions for "dental practitioner", "Determination", "inequity" and
"medicare benefit".
Clause 4 - Minister must redress inequity
Clause 4 specifies that the Minister must take action to redress past and future inequities
arising from the operation of subsection 10(2) of the Health Insurance (Dental Services)
Determination 2007 and sets a timeframe within which the Minister must act.
Clause 5 - Meaning of inequity
Clause 5 defines the inequity. The inequity is that a dental practitioner who has legitimately
provided a dental service and claimed a Medicare benefit as payment, is required to repay the
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benefit where they did not provide a patient before commencing treatment with a written plan
of their course of treatment and a written quotation, or failed to give copies of these
documents to the referring doctor.
Clause 6 - Action Minister must take
Clause 6 specifies the action the Minister must take to redress this inequity. It provides that
this action be one or more of the following:
· an amendment to the determination along the lines of the amendment set in Schedule
1 of the Bill;
· waiving the right to repayment of medicare benefits;
· making act of grace payments;
· providing for the inequity to be addressed through the income tax system;
· taking such other action as is necessary to redress the inequity.
Clause 7 - Minister must report to Parliament
Clause 7 requires the Minister to prepare reports on the action taken to redress past and future
inequities that arise from the operation of subsection 10(2) of the Health Insurance (Dental
Services) Determination 2007 and table those reports in each House of Parliament within 15
sitting days of the period in which the action must be taken. It provides for tabling of a single
report.
SCHEDULE
Schedule 1 - Amendments
Item 1: At the end of section 10
This item proposes an amendment to section 10 of the Determination to allow for
circumstances where a Medicare benefit can be paid where a written quotation was not
provided prior to treatment. These circumstances include: that the dentist did not know about
the requirement to provide a written quotation, did not fully understand the requirement, or
was under a reasonable misapprehension about the need to comply with the requirement.
Item 2: When services are taken to be provided
This applies the amendment in item 1, so that eligible services provided prior to the
commencement of the Schedule are covered by the amendment.
Item 3: Future amendment of Determination
This provides for the Determination to be amended in the normal way in the future.
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