Now lawHealth & Care Introduced in the House of Representatives, 12 Feb 2026

Specialist fees can now be published online

A specialist is a doctor with extra training in one area, such as hearts or knees. Many people skip seeing one because of the cost. This law lets the government publish what each specialist charges. It also stops health funds, the companies that sell private health insurance, from closing a policy (an insurance plan) and reopening it at a higher price to dodge price checks.

Official name: Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• People who see specialists: You will be able to look up what a specialist charges, and what you will likely pay, before you book.
• Specialists and other doctors: Their name, training, languages and fees in each place can be published, even if they do not join in.
• People with private health insurance: Your fund cannot open a near copy of your policy at a higher price, or cut your cover, without the minister's okay.
• Private health funds: They get a set window each year to ask for price approval, and a harder test outside it.

Specialist gaps hit about $300

Medicare is the national scheme that pays for some of your health care. A gap is what you pay yourself after Medicare and any health fund pay their share. Specialists set their own fees, and the gap can be large.

The Grattan Institute, a research group, looked at this. It found the average specialist gap grew 73% since 2010, after taking rising prices into account. It reached about $300 in 2023.

In 2024-25, 8.6% of people put off or skipped seeing a specialist because of the cost. That was more than 800,000 people.

Since 2022 a government website called the Medical Costs Finder has let specialists and health funds share their fees if they want to. By December 2025 only 1 to 2% of specialists took part. Only 10% of health funds did.

There was a second problem with private health insurance. Each year the health minister says yes or no to price rises on current policies.

But a fund could close a policy and open an almost identical one at a higher price, with no check at all. This is called product phoenixing, after a bird in old stories that rises again from its own ashes.

The federal government's independent complaints officer, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, looked into this. It found one fund's new Gold policy cost 21% more than the one it closed in 2023. Gold is the top level of private hospital cover.

Health Minister Mark Butler brought in the bill to deal with both problems. The Labor Party, which runs the government, promised to update the Medical Costs Finder before the 2025 election.

Doctors' fees published by default

The first part of the bill lets the head of the health department publish facts about medical services that Medicare pays for. Doctors do not have to agree to take part. Fees are shared by default.

This can include how much Medicare paid, and how often a doctor bulk bills. Bulk billing means you pay nothing extra. It can also include the fees a doctor charges.

It can show a doctor's name, training, type of specialist, languages spoken and where they work.

For hospitals, it can show which doctors work there and which health funds have deals with them. For health funds, it can show how many members used gap deals and what they paid themselves.

The focus is on specialists. The law allows family doctors to be included too. A health department spokesperson said family doctors would not be listed for now.

Say you need a knee surgeon. You could look up surgeons near you and see their usual fee. You could see what people with your fund paid. Then you could pick one that suits your budget.

Data sources and privacy

The figures will come from data the government already holds. That includes Medicare claims and a list of doctors. It also includes hospital data that private health funds send in. The law lets officials link these sets of data to work out the numbers.

No personal details about patients may be published. Each year the department will work out one fee figure for each doctor's service. It will do this in a way that protects privacy.

Doctors, hospitals and health funds can ask the department to check what is published about them. They cannot ask an outside review body to look at it. They can still go to court to say the decision was made the wrong way.

The department head cannot be sued for harm caused by publishing these facts. The government expects data to be on the website at the end of 2026 or early 2027.

Insurance secrecy rules tidied

Another piece of the first part updates the secrecy rules in the Private Health Insurance Act 2007. This matches changes made to other health laws in 2025.

Officials can now share facts with the minister and the minister's staff. The department head can now say yes to releasing a health fund's facts when it is good for the public. Before, only the minister could do that.

Facts can also be shared when they are already public, or when the person agrees. They can be shared to get legal advice too.

New rules for insurance prices

The second part changes how the minister approves the prices you pay for health insurance.

Before, funds only needed approval to change prices on current policies. Now they also need approval for the price of any new policy.

They also need approval when they make certain changes. These are cutting what a policy covers, lowering a benefit, or making its terms worse.

If a fund cuts cover without approval, the policy no longer counts as legal health insurance. Selling it would then be a crime. The most you could get is 5 years in jail, a fine of 1,000 penalty units, or both. A penalty unit is a set dollar amount used to work out federal fines.

Say your fund wants to drop joint replacements from your Gold policy. It now has to get the minister's okay on that policy's price first.

The yearly price round

Price approvals have long happened once a year. The law now sets this window in law. It runs for 55 days from the third Friday in September, unless the minister picks other dates.

Inside the window, the minister must say yes to a price unless it would be bad for the public. Outside the window, the minister can only say yes if it is good for the public. This harder test pushes funds to apply during the window.

The minister can ask for more facts. Before saying no, the minister must let a fund fix its request and send it again.

Officials can say yes for the minister, but only the minister can say no. Any no must still be explained to Parliament.

The minister can also set a fee for asking, in the detailed rules. The government says there is no plan to charge one at the start. Funds can still close products at any time.

Start date

The bill was brought into the House of Representatives on 12 February 2026. The House passed it on 25 June 2026 with 9 changes from the government.

The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it on 15 September 2026. It made 8 changes from the government and 7 from the Liberal and National parties (the Coalition). The House agreed to those on 16 September.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 18 September 2026. It became Act No. 90 of 2026.

The sources used here explain the bill as it first was. They do not explain what the later changes did.

As first written, the part on publishing fees starts the day after it was signed. The part on prices was set to start on 1 April 2026 or the day after it was signed, whichever came later.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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