$1bn health treatment
Labor reveals plan to overhaul Medicare system
PATIENTS will be given better access to GPs and doctors offered grants of up to $50,000 to improve their practices under an almost $1bn plan by Labor to “strengthen” Medicare.
An Albanese government would set up a Medicare taskforce made up of peak medical bodies such the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to map out the priority programs needed to improve access.
A fund worth $750m over four years would also be established to deliver better access and care to patients with Labor citing “improved patient access” to GPs, including afterhours help, and better management of complex and chronic conditions.
The fund would kick in from financial year 2023, with the package costed into the forward estimates.
Labor would also deliver grants worth $25,000 for small GP practices and $50,000 for larger clinics to help GPs upgrade IT systems including for telehealth, to upskill staff, purchase new equipment, upgrade ventilation and for infection control, and to “make other improvements to ensure GPs can see more patients”.
The grants program will cost $220m.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, set to campaign in the Northern Territory on Saturday where the health system is crushingly underfunded, said people were telling him it was “getting harder and harder to see a doctor”.
“General practice is the cornerstone of the Australian health system,” he said. “Australians trust their GPs. It’s a vital relationship in ensuring all Australians get the quality healthcare they deserve.”
The RACGP, in a submission to the federal health department’s draft primary health care 10-year plan in November, warned that general practice was in “a state of crisis” that could further deteriorate unless substantial investment and reform takes place. Calling general practice “the most efficient and cost-effective” aspect of the health system, the RACGP said the urgency of the situation has been exacerbated by Covid-19.
The $970m spend comes after Labor earlier in the campaign announced a $135m plan to establish a trial of 50 Urgent Care Clinics in every state and territory. State governments, including in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, have been calling for the federal government to increase its share of health funding from 45 per cent to 50 per cent – something Labor has yet to commit to.
The AMA has argued bringing in an even split on health funding across Australia would bump the total spend up by $20bn over four years, though the peak body has also stated that the way money is spent will need to change to be “more flexible”.