Australia to invest $4.5m for Medical Costs Finder website upgrades

The improved platform will analyse annual Medicare, hospital and insurer data.

The Australian government will invest $4.5m (A$7m) to improve the Medical Costs Finder website, enabling it to display the average fees charged by all eligible specialists across non-GP specialities.

The upgraded platform will analyse annual Medicare, hospital and insurer data to provide the average fee charged by each doctor for common medical services, alongside national averages.

It will also integrate data from private health insurers, showing their financial arrangements with specialists and the frequency of out-of-pocket expenses for patients.

Insurers will be required to provide this information on the website, following a low voluntary participation rate, with only three insurers currently providing this data.

A$1 = $0.64