Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated ActsOffence--compulsory provision of medical indemnity cover
(1) A person (the insurer ) commits an offence if:
(a) the insurer is a medical indemnity insurer; and
(b) the insurer, or another medical indemnity insurer, has provided medical indemnity cover for a medical practitioner (the practitioner ) who is an eligible practitioner; and
(c) the insurer:
(i) is the last medical indemnity insurer to have provided medical indemnity cover for the practitioner in relation to incidents occurring during a medical practice period of the practitioner; or
(ii) has taken over that last medical indemnity insurer; and
(d) the insurer does not provide medical indemnity cover for the practitioner that satisfies all of the requirements of subsection (4); and
(e) in a case where a termination date has been set for the purposes of subsection 34ZB(3) of the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 --the insurer's failure to provide that medical indemnity cover occurs before that date.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months.
(2) The medical indemnity cover referred to in paragraph (1)(b):
(a) may be medical indemnity cover provided to the practitioner or to someone else; and
(b) need not be medical indemnity cover provided while the practitioner was an eligible practitioner.
When a medical indemnity insurer is taken over
(3) The reference in paragraph (1)(c) to a medical indemnity insurer having taken over another medical indemnity insurer is a reference to it having assumed some or all of the financial responsibility for claims:
(a) that are claims in relation to incidents that occurred in the course of, or in connection with, the practitioner's practice as a medical practitioner; and
(b) with which the other medical indemnity insurer would, but for that assumption of responsibility, have been concerned because of the other medical indemnity insurer having provided medical indemnity cover to the person.
Requirements for medical indemnity cover
(4) Medical indemnity cover meets the requirements of this subsection if:
(a) it covers incidents that occurred while the practitioner was registered or licensed as a medical practitioner under a State or Territory law that provides for the registration or licensing of medical practitioners; and
(b) the nature and range of incidents it covers is at least the same as the nature and range of incidents covered by the last medical indemnity cover provided for the practitioner; and
(c) the contract of insurance under which the medical indemnity cover is provided satisfies subparagraph 34E(1)(e)(ii) of the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 ; and
Note: Subparagraph 34E(1)(e)(ii) of the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 requires that the practitioner's contract limit (see section 34B of that Act) equals or exceeds the relevant threshold under section 34F of that Act.
(d) it is provided on the terms and conditions on which the last medical indemnity cover provided for the practitioner was provided, to the extent they are relevant to the provision of medical indemnity cover; and
(e) it provides cover until the practitioner ceases to be an eligible practitioner; and
(f) no premium or other consideration is payable for the medical indemnity cover by the person to whom it is provided.
Practitioner etc. need not apply for medical indemnity cover
(7) The obligation under subsection (1) to provide medical indemnity cover applies whether or not the practitioner, or any other person, has applied to the insurer for the medical indemnity cover.
Effect of subsection (1)
(8) Subsection (1) has effect subject to section 116 of the Insurance Act 1973 .
Note: This means that an insurer does not have to provide medical indemnity cover under subsection (1) once the winding up of the insurer has started.
(9) In this section:
"eligible practitioner" means a person to whom subsection 34ZB(2) of the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 applies.
"medical practice period" , of an eligible practitioner, means:
(a) in any case--the period during which the practitioner was not an eligible practitioner; and
(b) if:
(i) the practitioner was engaged in private medical practice at the time the practitioner was an eligible practitioner; and
(ii) all of the medical services provided in the course of that medical practice were services provided free of charge; and
(iii) the practitioner is no longer engaged in that medical practice;
the period during which the practitioner was engaged in that medical practice; and
(c) if the practitioner:
(i) was engaged in medical practice (other than private medical practice); and
(ii) was provided with medical indemnity cover in relation to incidents occurring during that medical practice; and
(iii) is no longer engaged in that medical practice;
the period during which the practitioner was engaged in that medical practice and in relation to which the practitioner was provided with that medical indemnity cover.
Note: This definition, and the obligation under subsection (1) to provide medical indemnity cover, can apply more than once in relation to the same eligible practitioner.
"private medical practice" has the same meaning as in the Medical Indemnity Act 2002 .