Move ‘may be costly’
A private medical insurance company says increasing prescription charges to cover cheaper doctors fees might be very expensive. The chief executive of the Southern Cross Health Care Group, Mr Peter Smith, said no-one knew the real dynamics of the relationship between general practitioner consultations and prescriptions. “Certainly health planners can make a guesstimate based on current consultationprescription ratios, but the complex interaction of lower consultation fees and higher prescription charges will on average probably make each visit to the doctor (then chemist) just as expensive over-all as it is today,” he said.
Moves to reduce consultation fees should be applauded but any substantial decrease in fees was likely to result in more- consultations, Mr Smith said.
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Press, 14 September 1988, Page 11
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120Move ‘may be costly’ Press, 14 September 1988, Page 11
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