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You are here: Home Reports & data Health & welfare expenditure Patients' out-of-pocket spending on Medicare services 2016–17 Related material
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Patients' out-of-pocket spending on Medicare services 2016–17

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Release Date: 16 Aug 2018
Topic: Health & welfare expenditure
Media release

Citation

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2018) Patients' out-of-pocket spending on Medicare services 2016–17, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 27 June 2026.

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This new report shows variation in the total out-of-pocket costs that patients face in a year for Medicare services delivered outside of the hospital. It shines a spotlight on the costs patients pay for specialist, GP, diagnostic imaging and obstetric services. It also looks at patients’ experience of cost barriers to specialist, GP, imaging and pathology care.

This report was first published on the MyHealthyCommunities website.

  • ISBN: 978-1-76054-406-5
  • Cat. no: HPF 35
  • Pages: 18
Findings from this report:
  • Half of all patients—10.9 million people—had out-of-pocket costs for non-hospital Medicare services

  • Patients in metropolitan PHN areas were less likely to have out-of-pocket costs than patients in regional PHN areas

  • The proportion of patients with out-of-pocket costs for imaging tests was 5 times higher in some PHNs than others

  • The median out-of-pocket cost per specialist visit ranged from $36 to $97 across local areas (for patients with costs)

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Last updated 17/08/2023 v1.0

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