Pain management groups are welcoming private health insurance amendment rules tabled in a recent session of Parliament.
The new rules will see simpler categorisation of basic, bronze, silver and gold across health care insurance policies, increasing transparency for consumers.
The new rules introduced into Parliament have also addressed many of the concerns raised by Painaustralia and its founding members the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) and the Australian Pain Society last month around the proposed creation of a clinical category for chronic pain management.
The new rules ensure that pain management will be a minimum requirement for bronze, silver and gold categories. This will ensure that people will continue to have access to all of the pain management treatments available at this time.
“We welcome the new rules and would like to thank Minister Greg Hunt and his office and department for working collaboratively with the pain sector in attempting to resolve our concerns,” Painaustralia CEO Carol Bennett said.
“We have been presented with a much-improved proposal that will see a range of pain management options as a minimum requirement available in every category,” FPM dean Dr Meredith Craigie added.
“This is so important to the one-in-five Australians who live with pain conditions.”
