Page 1845 - Week 06 - Thursday, 5 June 2014
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So how would you define those two groups? Will you go to the ACT branch of the Consumer Health Forum when they oppose this and say that they are squealing? I do not think you will.
In today’s paper, doctors at one Melbourne hospital told the ABC that the first weekend after the federal budget, the emergency department there recorded its busiest weekend all year. Some of the patients were there for GP-like presentations; they were not in need of urgent care. There was no other reason for a big increase such as this—either a gastro outbreak or a weather surge. This increase in presentations to a Melbourne hospital was based on the co-payment. Medicare figures show that in the lead-up to the announcement of the co-payment there was a drop in standard GP visits. So if anyone needs to understand the impact of this co-payment, it is there for anyone to read.
The Prime Minister has clearly broken his promise that there will be no new taxes. We have a $7 GP tax. This will cost Australian families $3.5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses, a hit to the most vulnerable Australians.
While the details of how the co-payment will be administered are not yet clear, it appears that in the ACT alone the co-payment is expected to cost the community in the order of $9 million per year, over and above the fees that are already paid for non-bulk-billed services.
Is this the plan of the Abbott government—to really end Medicare? It will deter Australians from seeking early care and treatment. It will lead to greater complications and sicknesses, increasing hospitalisation, and costing the system, taxpayers and patients more. In fact, we know from international evidence that people will not seek preventive care or follow-up care. We already know that people do not fill a second script because they cannot afford it, and that is exactly what this measure will continue to do. The only people advocating for this co-payment are the Abbott government and his beloved Commission of Audit.
Why does Tony Abbott think he knows best when it comes to Australia’s health care? The AMA, the college of emergency physicians, the Doctors Reform Society, the Public Health Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Consumer Health Forum, the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, and a number of other health academics have advised against this tax, but the Abbott government is doing it anyway. The Prime Minister is asking Australian families to foot the bill for his broken election promises.
A number of pieces of international and Australian evidence and research show that the introduction of co-payments is likely to lead to a decline in access to primary healthcare services, a decline in health outcomes, that will ultimately increase the cost overall. People who delay seeking health care for preventive health or early intervention are more likely to present when the illness is more complex and costly to manage, increasing the potential for worse health outcomes, leading to longer hospital delays or an increase in future hospital use.
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