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Dave butler radio9/9/2023 We’re meeting very regularly as the Expenditure Review Committee across portfolios considering a whole range of things the Government needs to need to work through, and right near the top of the list is strengthening Medicare. LEE: So you know what the plan is now - just waiting for the Budget to announce it?īUTLER: No, we’ve just released the Report and there's a Budget process underway right now. When are you going to clear the table and give everyone the plan?īUTLER: In the Budget. When will we find out from you what the plan is? You keep saying everything's on the table. LEE: No, and I think everyone has seen that. It's not working for the sort of chronic disease that turns up at general practice every single day, that's not what Medicare was built to deal with. It’s not working for an older population. LEE: And Mark Butler, when will we find out -īUTLER: I'm not finished. But I've also tried to be honest in saying we're not going to simply add more money to the existing system because the existing system is not working for patients in the 2020s. I've said all of those ideas that were presented by doctors' groups and others is on the table. Obviously as a Labor Government we're very focused on making sure, particularly pensioners, concession card holders, children, are able to get healthcare at in a really accessible way. I've seen some correspondence from the Doctors Reform Society about other ways you could increase bulk billing. They've also said they want an increase in the bulk billing incentive, which is a payment made to GPs, if they bulk bill a patient that is that they don't charge them an out-of-pocket gap fee. But are you also going to have to raise the Medicare rebate? The College is saying it has to be raised by 20 per cent?īUTLER: They were clear about that. And people would agree that there would be many, many things in this rich tapestry that need to be addressed. The Medicare rebate was frozen for six long years, initiated by Peter Dutton back in his first Budget and it's put enormous financial pressure on general practice and driven up gaps.īEVAN: I think most people listening right now would agree that there's a big challenge for any government and it's your task now to turn this around. I've also tried to be honest, we're not going to turn this around overnight. I've tried to be really honest about the fact that I think general practice is in its worst shape it has been in in the 40-year history of Medicare, which is why strengthening Medicare was the centerpiece of our health policy at the last election. I've been calling out the decline in bulk billing now for a couple of years, frankly, at a time when the former government used to say bulk billing rates were at record highs. To satisfy them, you've got to do better?īUTLER: The College has played a really constructive role, along with a whole range of other groups working with me over the last six months to present and produce some ideas for reform in the next Budget, the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report. You know, the headlines in papers around the country is the end is nigh for bulk billing. MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Morning, David.īEVAN: The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has warned that even if the Medicare rebate is adjusted by - I think it's 1.6 per cent - that's not going to be enough to save bulk billing. DAVID BEVAN, HOST: Federal Health Minister and South Australian MP Mark Butler joins us now.
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