Hip pocket surgery

I found this snippet from an item in The Australian interesting:

Opposition health spokeswoman Nicola Roxon said yesterday a Labor government would regulate doctors' payments if the profession did not voluntarily improve its pre-procedure fee disclosures.

The move follows a campaign by the Australian Medical Association and federal Health Minister Tony Abbott to get more doctors to seek informed financial consent from patients before procedures.

The campaign was sparked by a 2005 report that found about 20 per cent of patients returned home from private hospital to find an unexpected bill not covered by their health fund.

The report found that the average unexpected gap fee was $720.

Mr Abbott, who has several times threatened regulation, took an interest in the issue in 2005 after being slugged with an unexpected gap fee of $500 for a kidney stone operation.