Medicare rebates have taken centre stage in parliament, but the Health Minister won’t even hint at lifting them.
Health Minister Mark Butler has refused to answer a point-blank question on whether he will lift patient rebates.
Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie yesterday sought a commitment in parliament from Mark Butler that boosting rebates would form part of the government’s flagship plan to strengthen Medicare.
Mr Wilkie noted the Morrison government denied rebates were “grossly inadequate” and “cooked the books by counting the number of bulk-billed services rather than the number of patients”.
But when he then put the Health Minister on the spot, asking if the government would “lift the rebate to bring relief to the millions of Australians who can’t afford to see their GP”, Mr Butler sidestepped the question.
Branding current opposition leader Peter Dutton the architect of the rebate freeze, which began when Mr Dutton was health minister in 2013-14, he said his actions had led to the current pressure on bulk-billing rates.
“Amazingly, for the first time in Medicare’s history, the average gap fee to see a doctor right now is higher than the Medicare rebate itself,” Mr Butler said.
“That is why strengthening Medicare was the centrepiece of Labor’s policy on health at the last election.”
Mr Wilkie called a point of order, arguing the minister was not answering the question, but Mr Butler wouldn’t be drawn out further.
“As I just said, there will be different views from doctors, nurses and patient groups within the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce,” he said. “But when you bring those groups together and engage in a respectful, constructive dialogue, you create the best outcomes for the Australian people.”
Mr Butler earlier today tabled a bill that would cut the maximum general co-payment for PBS scripts from $42.50 to $30 from 1 January 2023. The government said the change would mean that someone taking one medication a month could save as much as $150 every year, or for two or three medications, as much as $300 to $450 a year.
AMA president Professor Steve Robson said while the association supported measures to make medicines cheaper, the bill would have limited impact since only around 5% of medicines reach the $42.50 cap.
“We are also concerned by reports that this may lead to some patients paying more for medicines due to anti-competitive pharmacy regulations and call on the government to ensure nobody is worse off,” Professor Robson told TMR.
“The government could reduce the medicine costs of millions more Australians by increasing the maximum dispensed quantity to two months for the medicines recommended by PBAC in 2018.”
The exchange with Mr Wilkie follows Monday’s call by independent and former GP Dr Sophie Scamps.
“The Medicare rebate was frozen for so long between 2013 and 2019 that now, in order to keep their businesses afloat, GPs are making the hard decision to charge patients an out-of-pocket expense,” Dr Scamps told the House. “Not enough GPs are being trained because the stagnant Medicare rebate was not enough to attract them, especially when other medical specialties are better remunerated.
“We must lift the Medicare rebate and we must run a campaign to attract medical students into the specialty of general practice.”
On the same day, members of every political colour upped their efforts to put the state of general practice firmly on the federal political agenda, frequently linking it to the cost-of-living crisis.
“One of the biggest cost-of-living pressures on families in the electorate of Lalor and around the nation at the moment is the availability of doctors and the cost of seeing one,” ALP member Joanne Ryan said. “This is a direct result, in my community, of changes to the distribution priority area funding that saw our area lose 40 per cent of local GPs.”
Nationals member Dr Anne Webster said from across the floor that doctor shortages in her electorate were at “crisis point”. When the now-defunct Tristar group’s Mildura practice closed in mid-August, 15,200 patients were left without a GP, Dr Webster said.
“Almost all GP clinics in Mildura have closed their books, such is the desperate situation we face,” she said. “Existing patients face an average appointment wait of four weeks. In regional communities, the primary health care shortages are turning preventative health issues into emergencies.”
