Australia’s Surgical Surcharge: How Australians are paying too much for medical devices through the Prescribed List of Medical Devices

A new report by Mandala Australia’s surgical surcharge: How Australians are paying too much for medical devices through the prescribed list of medical devices, shows the damaging impact overpricing of generic medical devices has on Australia’s health system and private health insurance premiums.

The Mandala report found that:

Australians are paying some of the highest prices in the world for medical devices through the Prostheses List (PL). This does not result in better patient care.
For a selection of 46 frequently used devices, Australia pays much more compared UK, New Zealand, France and Germany. The UK pays 71 per cent of what Australia does. New Zealand pays two thirds of what we pay, France pays less than half of what we pay, and Germany pays one fifth of what we pay.
Australia pays 70 per cent more through the PL than New Zealand for a hip replacement stem, for example, and 30 per cent more for a drug eluting stent.
The total cost of the PL in 2024 will be around $1.89 billion which is $967 million more than what we would pay if we had the average prices of peer countries. Of that $967 million, $271 million will be paid by taxpayers through the PHI rebate, Veterans’ Affairs care, and Workers Compensation. The rest is paid by health fund members.