For the sake of North Coast residents, many of whom are on low incomes, the current ‘freeze’ on the rebate for Medicare consultation items should be brought to an end by whichever parties win government this weekend.
The Northern Rivers General Practice Network (NRGPN) has entered the campaign fray because of its ongoing concern about patients who rely on GPs as their first port of call when facing concerns about their health.
“All the major parties have responsibility here,” said Dr David Guest, NRGPN Chairman.
"Leading into the election on 2 July, Labor and the Greens have said they support the reversal of the Medicare freeze, while the Coalition does not.
“The Medicare freeze was introduced by the Labor government in 2012, then embraced by the Coalition government under Tony Abbott, and extended in the May 2016 Budget to 2020. At present, there is no guarantee it will not extend beyond that time.
“If that happens, the effect will be to reduce GP incomes at a time when costs continue to increase over time. This is most marked where doctors bulk bill a large proportion of their patients.
“The effect of the freeze will force general practitioners to either abandon bulk billing or walk away from their practices. In either case, local patients will be the losers.”
Dr Guest said the NRGPN believes primary health care needs a new approach to financing that is both fair and efficient. It supports exploring better ways to care for those patients in our community with chronic and complex medical problems.
“However, ad hoc decisions made by Treasury about health financing are unfair on the most vulnerable members of our community.”
