‘$l fee rise may be too high’

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 2

‘$l fee rise may be too high’

PA Wellington Many doctors increasing their fees $1 could still be investigated by the Government if complaints are laid, said the Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm, yesterday. Mr Malcolm said that doctors had not been given “officially endorsed authority” for $1 fee hikes. The chairman of the Medical Association, Dr Dean Williams, announced the “Government” guideline, saying members should not raise their fees by more than $1 for an ordinary

consultation unless they could satisfy the Trade and Industry Department. But Mr Malcolm said, “My view is that most doctors would have difficulty justifying even a $1 per consultation increase. “This view is supported by preliminary results from Trade and Industry price justification investigations which have so far only justified increases of about 50c.” Mr Malcolm said that a survey by trade and industry officials had shown approximately 90 per cent of doctors had raised fees.

“Most of these increases have been in the range of an excessive $2 to $3 per consultation while more than 10 per cent have been in the range of an exorbitant ?3 to $5 per consultation.” Mr Malcolm said he expected the fee reductions to be immediate, and he wanted the public to assist in supervising the medical profession’s response. “The Medial Association has tried, I think, to be helpful, but it will be the actual fee-charging patterns of individual doctors which will determine whether or not the Government intro-

duces regulations to control doctors’ incomes.” The president of the Auckland division of the Medical Association, Dr Hal Harding, said yesterday that the Government guideline on fees would make doctors “very angry” and some G.P.s would probably ignore it. “To say G.P.s are all doing the same job in the same way is not true. It is interesting that doctors without any collusion, reach the same figure by which they thought fees should be raised — about 20 to 25 per cent,” Dr Harding said.