Government schemes

When medical indemnity became a general insurance product, the Government introduced a number of schemes.

Premium Support Scheme

The Premium Support Scheme (PSS) is a federal Government initiative to assist eligible doctors to meet the cost of their medical indemnity insurance.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for the PSS, you must be a medical practitioner and fall into one of the following groups:

1. Your gross indemnity costs for the premium period exceed 7.5% of your actual income or, where a calculation is being made as to the amount of an advance subsidy, 7.5% of your estimated income.
2. You work as a procedural general practitioner in an area that is classified by the Department of Health and Ageing as Remote, Rural or Metropolitan (RRMA) codes 3-7.
3. You previously received a subsidy under the Government’s Medical Indemnity Subsidy Scheme (MISS), and continue to work in the same specialty.
4. Your practice is based primarily on public billings but you do private medical practice and you receive some income from that private practice (and you are not indemnified for that private practice under a right to private practice agreement). Your gross private medical income must be greater than $1,000 within the premium period to be eligible.
5. You are currently in working in a solely employer indemnified role (no private practice) and you are practicing within Australia during the period and your practice is based solely on employer indemnified public practice billings; your gross private medical income (GPMI) for the premium period is $0; and a component of your current gross indemnity costs (GIC) relates to run-off cover for past private practice.

For more information, please refer to the Department of Health & Ageing website.

Run-off Cover Scheme

The Run-Off Cover Scheme (ROCS) provides free run-off cover to doctors who leave the private medical workforce. This Government scheme covers eligible doctors for incidents that occurred whilst they were practicing, but are subsequently known and reported after they have ceased practice.

Who is eligible?

Those eligible for ROCS are medical practitioners who are:

• over 65 years and have permanently retired from medical practice
• under 65 years but have not engaged in private practice at any time during the previous three years
• permanently disabled
• the legal representative of a deceased medical practitioner
• overseas medical practitioners who had practiced medicine in Australia on a class 422 or 457 visa who have permanently left Australia
• on maternity leave.

MIPS also offers a ROCS with gratuitous work, which may be appropriate if you are eligible for ROCS but still undertake occasional gratuitous work.

Exceptional Claims Scheme

The Government's Exceptional Claims Scheme (ECS) covers medical practitioners for 100% of the cost of private practice claims that are above $20 million, that is the limit of their medical indemnity contract of insurance.  The ECS was formally known as the 'Blue Sky' scheme.

The ECS is fully funded by the Government.  Doctors are not required to make a contribution.

Members are eligible if they are medical practitioners whose private practice claims exceed the annual limit of their medical indemnity cover ($20 million) in either one large claim, or an aggregate of many claims.

For more information, please refer to the Department of Health & Ageing website.