Medicare not waiting for Libs

Medicare has revealed it is preparing for the removal of discrimination against same-sex families at the end of the year.
The move comes despite the fact the laws have not yet been introduced and are likely to be referred to a Senate committee by the Liberal Party when they are.
In a bulletin to pharmacists the public health insurance agency said same-sex couples would be able to register for the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme Safety Net as a family unit from 1 January 2009, subject to the change in legislation.
When passed, the laws will also allow same-sex families to register with the Medicare Safety Net.
Under the schemes initiated by the previous Howard Government, same-sex couples must spend more to access the Safety Net subsidies than opposite-sex couples, Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes found in his Same-Sex: Same Entitlements report.
A same-sex family must accumulate two times [the family threshold] in -˜gap’ expenses before Medicare reimburses 100 percent of the schedule fee for all family members, the report stated.
Like the Medicare Safety Net, a same-sex couple will have to spend much more than an opposite-sex couple before receiving PBS Safety Net subsidies.
The thresholds apply to family units as well as individuals. Children in same-sex families could be included in the same Safety Net as one parent but not both, so any expenses by the second parent would not contribute to the family’s Safety Net.
More information about the implementation will be sent to pharmacists in December, but it is unknown if the laws will be passed by then.
The Opposition-initiated Senate inquiries into equality reforms, which do not yet include the Medicare changes, were ostensibly to protect the status of marriage. The Health Insurance Act, which governs the Safety Nets, specifies a family as a married or de facto spouse and children.
Amendments to the definitions surrounding couples and families in Commonwealth laws will mean people in same-sex relationships, and their families, will have access to the same financial entitlements as couples who are either married or in de facto, opposite-sex relationships, the bulletin to pharmacists stated.