The $20 cut to the Medicare rebate for some visits to the doctors may have been dropped but new Health Minister Sussan Ley is warning “some patients” will eventually have to pay more when they see their GP.
Ms Ley blitzed media airwaves on Friday morning to defend the government’s decision to abandon its plan to slash the Medicare rebate for short doctor’s appointments by $20.
But the minister said the government would still introduce a “price signal” on top of the $5 GP co-payment due to begin in July but promised to consult doctors better about future changes.
The government’s decision to scrap its $20 cut to the rebate came just 24 hours afterTony Abbott publicly defended the policy, saying it would encourage GPs to spend more time with patients.
Ms Ley said too many Australians who can afford to pay to visit the GP are using bulk billing and seeing the doctor for free and this was contributing to a blow-out in the cost of Medicare, which is estimated to reach $34 billion next decade.
The minister said wealthier people, like herself, should not be receiving “heavily subsidised medical care” and “not paying for it”.
“The increase in bulk billing has been extraordinary,” she said. About 83 per cent of GP visits were bulk billed in the last financial year, while the rate was as low as 67 per cent when Tony Abbott was health minister in the Howard government.
Ms Ley also pointed out that 72 per cent of GP consultations are non-concessional patients being bulk billed.
“Most people in their heart of hearts would admit that it’s also OK for them to pay a little bit more than a concessional patient.”
But taxpayers pay the Medicare Levy, which in 2014 rose from 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent of their taxable income. Ms Ley said on Friday that raising the Medicare Levy, instead of introducing price signals, was “not on the table”.
“The Medicare Levy raises $10 billion and the cost of Medicare is $20 billion so the Medicare Levy is hopelessly inadequate in funding Medicare,” Ms Ley said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Ms Ley had “let the cat out of the bag” that the government was still intent on “wrecking Medicare” and “taking away bulk billing”.
“They’ve just changed their tactics,” Mr Shorten said in Queensland.
Mr Shorten denied the cost of Medicare was “in crisis” and accused the government of cooking up “propaganda and myths”.
“If you want to protect Medicare you need to protect the government of Australia,” he said.
This story first appeared in The Age
