A little while ago the Abbott Government very quietly unveiled plans to reduce the Medicare rebate paid for GP consultations lasting 10 minutes or less by $20.05. This meant that, if your Doctor bulk-billed, they’d be getting $20.05 less from Medicare for consultations that lasted short amounts of time, and if you pay a fee to your Doctor when you visit, you’d be getting $20.05 less back from Medicare – the amount the rebate would be reduced to would’ve fallen to $16.95, down from the previous mark of $37.05.
This was all part of the $7 co-payment plan levelled by the Government in their adjusted health and Medicare reforms following the original plan – as set out in that ever-so-troublesome Federal Budget last May – crashing and burning harder than the Hindenburg.
The Government put this plan in place to help establish billions in budget savings, and to eliminate the problem of “
six minute Doctoring” – a process involving GPs rushing patients through to maximise revenue – despite the fact that research conducted suggests that six minute doctoring
doesn’t actually exist.
Today, in another blow for the Abbott Government’s budgetary aspirations, the Labor Party announced its intentions to oppose the reform in the senate once the legislation reaches the Upper House in February. Coupled with support from the Greens, and four crossbench senators in Nick Xenophon, Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir and Jacqui Lambie, this equates to enough votes to have the bill quashed.
Experts believe that, should the cuts come into effect, that two outcomes are likely: One, that GPs will pass the cut in the rebate on to patients. And two, that consultations that otherwise would have been brief will be needlessly extended to exceed the ten minute threshold, increasing waiting times and potentially creating a patient load log jam for GP consultations.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten fronted media whilst aiding in the campaign trail for the upcoming Queensland State Election to announce his party’s plans and to throw a severe amount of shade at the Government.
“Our position is unequivocal, it’s in black and white. We will oppose Tony Abbott changing the rebate system for our GPs, making it a lot harder and through this sneaky backdoor method.“
“The AMA and GPs know more about treating the sick than Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and Campbell Newman. Tony Abbott is putting a price on Medicare without understanding the value of what GPs do. Health care should depend on your Medicare card, not your credit card.“
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, for his part, remained steadfastly defiant about the critics of his party’s policy, if not slightly flabbergasted.
“I say to all of the critics: ‘If you don’t like what we are doing come up with your alternative because we simply cannot go on as a government and as a country living beyond our means.’“
I don’t know, Tony. You wanted to be Government so badly, and yet you’re still acting surprised when things that happen to a Government occur. Maybe it’s time you stopped blaming other people and… Oh, I don’t know… Governed responsibly.
But I’m just one man with one opinion, after all.
Photo: Stefan Postles via Getty Images.
