Paying for colonoscopy in Australia
Examination of the bowel with a flexible camera, with or without polyp removal. Four routes can pay for it: a public hospital, the Medicare benefit, private hospital cover and paying the provider yourself. The table sets out what each route covers, the wait and the price, with the source of every figure and the date it was read. Where a route publishes nothing, or this site has not read it, the cell says so.
How each route pays for colonoscopy
| Route | What it covers | Wait | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public hospitalAs a public patient, under Medicare | Treatment by a doctor the hospital appoints; you cannot choose your doctor, and you may be placed on a public hospital waiting list | Not trackedAIHW elective surgery measures read here have no series for this procedure | No charge as a public patient in a public hospitalMedicare covers treatment as a public patient by a doctor the hospital appoints |
|
| Medicare benefitPrivate patient: doctors’ fees | Medicare benefit for a privately admitted hospital patient (75% of the schedule fee) | Not applicableMedicare pays a benefit; it does not set a wait | Benefit set per MBS item: 4 items, listed belowEach item links to MBS Online. Figures not reproduced here until the MBS reuse terms are confirmed |
|
| Private hospital coverInsurance as a mechanism; no insurer or policy named | Not trackedAPRA publishes in-hospital medical gaps by MBS specialty group only, and none is mapped to this treatment | Not trackedNo private-hospital wait is published | Not trackedNo figure for this treatment has been read | None for this row |
| Self-pay: Maryvale Private HospitalMorwell, VIC. The one hospital self-pay page read so far | Colonoscopy (including polypectomy)Hospital fee only: excludes surgeon and anaesthetist fees | Not trackedNo self-pay wait has been read | from A$1,318This cost does not include surgeon or anaesthetist fees |
|
- Public hospital waits are AIHW's: Public hospitals only. Time from being added to the surgical waiting list to admission; excludes the wait to see a specialist. No private or self-pay wait is published.
- Medicare does not cover private-patient hospital costs such as theatre fees and accommodation (privatehealth.gov.au: Medicare, read 26 October 2026).
- Figures from different routes are not added together. A Medicare benefit, an insurer's payment and a hospital's self-pay price each describe a different part of the bill.
The Medicare items for colonoscopy
Medicare pays a benefit per MBS item, and each item has its own. They are listed one by one and never added together: which items a doctor bills depends on the treatment given, and the schedule fee is what the benefit is calculated from, not what a doctor charges. Each item links to its page on MBS Online, where its fee and benefits are published. The figures are not reproduced here until the MBS reuse terms are confirmed.
Item 32219: Colonoscopy after a positive bowel screening (faecal occult blood) test, no symptoms
Item 32222: Colonoscopy for symptoms, anaemia or iron deficiency, abnormal imaging and other listed reasons
Item 32228: Colonoscopy not covered by another colonoscopy item
Item 32229: Removal of one or more polyps during colonoscopy
Source: MBS Online, release 20261101, read 26 October 2026. Item labels are TreatCompare's plain-English wording; the MBS descriptor on MBS Online is the authority.
More on colonoscopy in Australia
Sources
- MBS Online, release 20261101. Read 26 October 2026. Medicare Benefits Schedule items, per item.
- privatehealth.gov.au: Medicare. Read 26 October 2026.
- Maryvale Private Hospital: self-pay surgery. Read 26 October 2026.