Medical indemnity cover
Medical indemnity cover is the insurance doctors buy to cover themselves for claims made by patients against them for medical negligence or for assistance if doctors are involved in investigations such as coronial inquiries. Overseas trained doctors should seek further information from their Australian employer regarding what medical indemnity cover they need for a particular medical job.
The links below provide useful information about the range of Department of Health and Ageing programs which are currently in effect to help doctors and their insurers in relation to medical indemnity costs.
The Department of Health and Ageing Package
The Department’s medical indemnity package is aimed at helping both doctors with their medical indemnity costs and ensuring that there is a viable, on-going medical indemnity insurance market.
The Run-off Cover Scheme (ROCS)
Under this scheme the Department guarantees to pay the cost of medical indemnity claims covered by the scheme against eligible doctors who have left the private medical workforce. You need to be aware that the type of visa on which you enter Australia may affect the timing of your eligibility for this scheme.
The Premium Subsidy Scheme (PSS)
Under this scheme the Department helps eligible doctors with the costs of their medical indemnity insurance (MII).
Exceptional Claims Scheme
The ECS is the Department's scheme to indemnify doctors for 100% of the costs of certain private practice claims that are above the $20 million limit of their medical indemnity contracts of insurance. This is so that doctors are not personally liable for amounts that exceed their contract's limit of insurance.
UMP Support Payment
Under the United Medical Protection (UMP) support payment, the Department will recoup a portion of the cost of providing financial support to the medical defence organisation UMP from its members and former members. The UMP support payment replaces the incurred but not reported liabilities (IBNR) contribution---which was designed to recover the full cost of Department support to UMP under the IBNR scheme.
The UMP support payment only applies to those people who were members of UMP on 30 June 2000. Overseas trained doctors who may join UMP after that date will not be liable for this payment.
The High Cost Claims Scheme
Under this scheme, the Department will reimburse medical indemnity insurers, on a per claim basis, 50% of the cost of the claim which is in excess of $300,000 up to the limit of the practitioner's cover, for claims which are notified on or after 1 January 2004.