Seeking people to act on specialist fees

I want to contact other Central Coast people with the following problem so we can do something about it.

I have a medical condition, getting worse, which my GP says must be diagnosed by a specialist doctor.

When making an appointment to see a Central Coast specialist, I was told the fee would be $195.

Further consults with the specialist, I guess, will cost similar amounts.

I hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

I have a dependent wife and dependent daughter in Year 12.

There must be thousands of people on the Central Coast with a Health Card who need specialist medical advice.

Like others, I have paid my taxes fully and without a dodge all my life, thus supporting the great public institutions that provide education for professional people, including doctors.

Like others, I have consistently, without break, paid my 1.5 per cent Medicare levy.

I have, for the 52 years of my working life, paid top medical cover including top extras.

Back to the phone-call: the fee of $195 took me aback, but I need this diagnosis badly so I informed the specialist's manager that I would make the appointment and speak to the specialist about his fee at the start of the consultation.

On previous occasions I have done this with specialists and they have heard my story and decided to bulk bill me.

This is the way Medicare is supposed to run; doctors get paid by the Government from our 1.5 per cent levy and, where people are financially comfortable, the doctors charge extra which the patient must pay (in addition to his or her 1.5 per cent weekly payments).

Anyway, the appointment was made for July.

That was that.

Yesterday I received another phone call from the specialist's manager.

She informed me that the specialist has asked her to ring me and tell me that the fee was $195, it was set, it would not be changed, he would not discuss the matter with me either now or in the appointment, that if I wanted to see a skin specialist then I should go to Royal North Shore Hospital where there was a public skin clinic.

It occurred to me that his policy was greedy and his processes cowardly, and I expressed that opinion, politely.

The specialist's manager politely ended the phone-call.

So, I returned to my GP to get another referral, this time to Royal North Shore Hospital.

I rang Royal North Shore Hospital and was told that there were no appointments left for 2013 and that I "will have to ring back in October to book an appointment for 2014".

So, I'm buggered.

I either do nothing and hope to get a 2014 appointment with Royal North Shore Hospital when I ring in October, or I pay this specialist $195 a pop, every pop.

It occurs to me that there may be many people on the Central Coast who need specialist attention but who are not getting it because specialist attention is too expensive and out-of-reach despite the existence of means-tested Health Cards and Government bulk-billing funding of doctors.

It is not surprising that Sydney hospitals are difficult to get help from.

They are already over-loaded with people in their own area.

We rely on the specialists to be of excellent quality and compassionate.

My experience is varied.

Some specialists, despite the "no-go" answers from the front desk, will agree to bulk bill if I discuss it with them before their services are provided, but others seem to think they can charge huge fees even to those who are unable to pay.

Am I right to think these latter doctors are greedy?

And, am I correct in thinking it is an act of cowardice to instruct the manager to tell me "no", "no" and "no" and that I must go to a Sydney hospital, sometime in 2014 maybe?

I am keen to know if this is an isolated experience I have had, or if many others are similarly affected.

If you, or a friend or relative, are not getting specialist medical attention you need because the fee is too high, please contact me so we can discuss possible lines of action together.

Email: vandavy@hotmail.com

Email, 28 May 2013

Van Davy, Pearl Beach