Medicare disappearing not MedicarePlus
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today described the Howard Government's revised Medicare package as a prescription for poor health that would do nothing to address falling bulk billing rates for most Australians.
"The Howard Government has come up with another poor prescription for Australia's health system - offering incentives to bulk bill some people while entrenching the privatisation of health care through co-payments and safety nets," Senator Nettle said.
"The focus of the package has not changed, with the incentives applying to certain groups of people, concession card holders and children. We already know that most concession card holders are bulk billed. The real problem is not with this group.
"There are no measures to encourage bulk billing for all Australians because the government isn't committed to bulk billing for all Australians. If the government believes that an increase of $5 in the patient rebate will encourage GPs to bulk bill patients then it should increase the patient rebate by $5 across the board, as The Greens have advocated.
"The proposed safety nets are no substitute for a universal national health insurance scheme. They are inflationary, their value diminishes over time, they can be changed by a government looking for spending cuts and some people in need invariably miss out. This is simply not good enough when we are talking about people's health.
"Under the government's plan for Medicare safety nets will become the focus of government policy and before long the principle of equality of access to health services, which is at the core of Medicare, will disappear.
"If the Senate appears likely to support the package then we will examine ways of making the safety nets less discriminatory, in line with a recommendation of the Senate Select Committee on Medicare.
"Ultimately, though, The Greens will oppose this package because we want a stronger Medicare, not a pale imitation. We urge other senators to join us in defending our public health system."
