Gender discrimination banned from Medicare

The Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek, and the Minister for Human Services, Jan McLucas, today announced that all gender discrimination will be completely removed from Medicare.

This will mean that a patient who needs a medical or dental treatment under Medicare should be able to get it without a discussion about or disclosure of their gender - male, female, transgender, or otherwise.

"That's why the Government is removing all references to gender from the language used to describe the almost 6,000 clinical services covered by Medicare", they said.

"At the moment, there are some Medicare services described as being for a man or a woman. This has caused discrimination against gender diverse Australians who have had to have unnecessary discussions about their gender identity in order to get access to a Medicare service, or to claim a rebate for one at a Medicare office."