Devil in the detail: 23 million GP services delayed in Turnbull's Medicare thaw

The Age
May 27 2017

The Medicare rebate freeze will remain in place for tens of millions of GP services – including mental health plans and chronic disease management – for another three years under little-known details of the Turnbull government's budget.   

A gradual thaw in the deeply unpopular indexation freeze, which doctors claim has forced them to increase prices and in some cases abandon bulk-billing, was the centrepiece of the government's health budget earlier this month. But doctors and the federal opposition are now accusing the Coalition of trying to sneak out details that show the thaw will be slower than advertised.   

Under Health Minister Greg Hunt's agreements with doctors' groups, indexation will be reapplied to bulk-billing incentives, visits to the doctor, allied health services and a small number of diagnostic imaging services over four years.

Mr Hunt has in particular trumpeted the thaw for GP consultations from July 2018.

But Health Department figures released subsequent to the budget show indexation on 113 GP benefit items, which add up to about 24 million services a year, will remain frozen until July 2020.

The delay, which was not detailed in the budget papers or in the government's "compacts" with the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of GPs, applies to common services such as mental health plans, management plans for chronic diseases, pregnancy support, prolonged and after-hours consultations and residential management.

Brad Frankum, the president of the NSW AMA, said the arrangement was news to him.

"I think it is something they have tried to push through very quietly," he said. "The problem with this arrangement is that it's basically saying let's not reward this type of quality care service. The message it sends is that these items are not important."

But a spokesman for Mr Hunt said 78 per cent of GP services by volume would be indexed in 2018.

"This is exactly what was agreed with, announced by and welcomed by the RACGP as part of a broader partnership set out in written compacts," the spokesman said. "We have a rock-solid commitment to Medicare. Bill Shorten on the other hand has become so desperate for a health policy he's turned to attacking the nation's doctors."

Mr Shorten told the AMA's national conference on Friday the government's thaw was "cash for no comment", which has been interpreted as an attack on the AMA for accepting the government's staged approach.

Speaking at the conference in Melbourne on Saturday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "Our approach to lifting the freeze is responsible. It targets those services that matter to Australians the most." But Labor's health spokeswoman, Catherine King, called the delay on non-standard GP services an "unbelievable insult" to patients and doctors.

"This is the secret the Turnbull government hid from the Australian people on budget night – their GP freeze won't be fully lifted until 2020," she said. "This is proof that this was a health budget of smoke and mirrors."   

The rebate GPs receive on a standard consultation has been frozen at $37.05 since December 2014. Out-of-pocket costs under Medicare have increased by 34 per cent in the past three and half-years.

whiteknight wrote on May 28^th, 2017 at 7:21am:


I wonder how long they can keep pretending that "mediscare" was actually a scare campaign and not a genuine concern?  Through my work I've had to do a lot of small talk and listening to some of the 'mature aged' clients talking about how pathetic it was of Labor to run such a scare campaign, then months later to hear the same people complaining that certain tests they have to take now have an out of pocket expense or are no longer covered at all by Medicare, it's very hard to keep my mouth shut and say I told you so.  But they're dyed in the wool supporters, what can you do.  To them, like many on here, it will always be Labor's fault.

whiteknight wrote on May 28^th, 2017 at 7:21am:

Quote:


No they have been sneaky and dishonest.

Totally sconced Shorty is making it up as he goes - so what's different - nothing really.

And Labor is in uproar and tatters over just about everything as they can't even agree on what to disagree on.



Medicare rebate thaw: Bill Shorten accuses PM of buying doctors' silence
Adam Gartrell MAY 26 2017

Bill Shorten has described the Turnbull government's slow thaw in the Medicare rebate freeze as "cash for no comment" designed to buy doctors' silence on healthcare issues.

VIDEO: Goading Bill Shorten

The Opposition Leader has told physicians at the Australian Medical Association's national conference that the government's policy was the minimum it could do to "silence the system". It was seen by some as a thinly veiled swipe at doctors' groups – including the AMA – that have welcomed Health Minister Greg Hunt's phased approach.

Mr Shorten used the event to release new independent costings of the government's plan, which he says shows the budget locks in $2.2 billion in Medicare cuts over the next four years.

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The Parliamentary Budget Office analysis shows that fully lifting the Medicare rebate freeze on July 1 would have cost $3.2 billion, but Mr Hunt's policy will cost less than $1 billion.

"If you like, it's the minimum they can get away with paying to keep people silent," Mr Shorten said. "It's like cash for no comment.

"I believe the government has got a calculus here: what is the minimum they can pay to make healthcare issues go away as an election point?"

Mr Shorten's speech earned an immediate rebuke from Mr Hunt, who said the AMA was staunchly independent. "If he wants to attack the AMA, I think that is a vile for him to do so," he said.


Shorty snags it

Mr Shorten's office said he was attacking the government's policies, not the AMA's response. But Greenies leader Richard Di Natale also saw Mr Shorten's comments as an attack on the lobby group.

"How else would you construe it?" he said. "Now, I think the unfreezing of the rebate is happening way too slowly. But what the AMA does in response to government policy is a matter for them."


Health Minister Greg Hunt has criticised Bill Shorten for suggesting the government had bought the AMA's silence. Photo: Jesse Marlow

Labor introduced the freeze on the indexation of Medicare rebates during the Gillard government, a move that was then extended by the Abbott government.

Under Mr Hunt's plan, the government will gradually lift the Medicare rebate freeze, starting this year with bulk-billing incentives for GP consultation, then other GP and specialist consultations in 2018, specialist procedures in 2019 and finally targeted diagnostic imaging services in 2020.

AMA president Michael Gannon – who welcomed the government's announcement, even though he wanted an immediate across-the-board reintroduction of indexation – said the AMA was completely independent and not reading from the script of any political party.


AMA president Michael Gannon (left) and NSW president Brad Frankum. Photo: Edwina Pickles

"They're in for a surprise if they think they can keep the AMA quiet," he said.

The NSW president of the AMA, Brad Frankum – who split from Dr Gannon and the body's federal leadership to criticise the government's approach – welcomed Mr Shorten's intervention.

"I think he was certainly making the point that the budget did not deliver as much for health as it should have," Dr Frankum said.

Mr Hunt used the conference to announce the government would invest $5.9 million from the Medical Research Future Fund to take on the threat of medicines-resistant superbugs.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/medicare-rebate-...

juliar wrote on May 28^th, 2017 at 7:25pm:


Get to it Libs, bust that union called the AMA.