A re-elected Labor Government will publish the fees that individual non-GP specialists are charging for common services, Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler has announced.

His $7 million pledge to breathe life into the Medical Costs Finder website also includes publishing private health insurance arrangements for each specialist and how often patients with insurance are facing out-of-pocket costs.

“The upgrade will ensure Australian patients will have the power to compare costs and make informed choices about their medical care while not imposing any administrative burden on doctors,” Mr Butler said on Monday.

He said it would require changing the Health Insurance Act’s privacy provisions so the government could use Medicare, hospital and insurance data to calculate and publish specialists’ average fees and update them every three months.