Private Healthcare Australia (PHA)

Australians with health insurance will not lose access to private hospitals, despite a scare campaign launched today by Healthscope and its private equity owner, Brookfield, to mislead consumers.

CEO of Private Healthcare Australia Dr Rachel David said the Healthscope campaign, backed by Brookfield, a North American private equity firm managing $1.4 trillion in assets, is designed to pressure health insurers and the Federal Government into a bail out which would drive up the cost of health insurance for millions of Australians.

Health fund payments to hospitals surged 8% over the past year as an increasing number of Australians turned to private hospitals for rapid access to care, including elective surgery.

Doctors should be legally obliged to report adverse events involving medical devices to the Therapeutic Goods Administration to help protect patients from harmful products and procedures.