The Complementary Medicine Insurance Wars: The Unresolved but Politicised Australian Theatre of Combat
Freckelton, I.
Journal of Law and Medicine 27(1): 7-19
2019
ISSN/ISBN: 1320-159X PMID: 31682337 Document Number: 698930
Debates have taken place for many years internationally, including in Australia, about the therapeutic effectiveness and safety of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM). The issues raised in such disputation go beyond the capacity for patients to make choices informed by contemporary knowledge about the status of such disciplines and the accuracy of claims made by the various stakeholders. As government subsidises rebates under private health insurance for a number of modalities of health care, the entitlements of CAM disciplines to such rebates have become controversial. This editorial traces Australian reports since 2010 about the eligibility for insurance rebates of a number of CAM disciplines and calls for the current 2019-2020 review by the Chief Medical Officer to engage in a fair, rigorous and conclusive evaluative process, utilising as its yardstick contemporary evidence about treatment efficacy. Such a process has the potential to bring to an end disputation that has only served to confuse patient decision-making, cater to vested interests and incur for government costs that cannot properly be justified.