Friday 29th of March 2024

medicare still under attack from the libs (CONservatives)...

 

medicare

As the Abbott government casts around for a third version of its Medicare copayment policy, it’s surely time for it to ask the basic question: “Why are we doing this again?”

The reasons for abandoning the second copayment policy are clear: voters hated it; doctors were going to the barricades over it; it wasn’t going to pass the Senate; it was going to cause serious trouble for Campbell Newman’s Queensland election campaign.

In short, they were political. (And foreseeable, but that’s another story.)

But the policy reasons for cutting Medicare in the first place have been various and confusing – to return savings to the budget but also to provide money for a medical research fund, to reduce “unnecessary” visits to the doctor, to force payment from those who can afford it and to “save” the long-term future of a scheme with costs “ballooning out of control”.

“Medicare will not survive in the long term without changes to make it sustainable,” the new health minister, Sussan Ley, said, repeating a talking point the government has been using since last year’s budget as she fronted for the unenviable task of half-ditching a policy conceived before she took over the portfolio. (The $5 rebate cut slated for July will stay.)

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/16/as-sussan-ley-tries-to-patch-the-cuts-to-medicare-the-question-is-why

 

the poor on the scrap heap...

The federal government has attacked the integrity of doctors while announcing a review of Medicare, the Australian Medical Association says.

The Turnbull government has launched a "long overdue" review of Medicare services to bring the system into the 21st century.

While AMA president Professor Brian Owler​ agreed the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) was outdated, he said Health Minister Sussan Ley had indicated doctors were using it to perform unsafe and unnecessary procedures, harming patients for financial gain.

"This is a direct attack on the integrity of the medical profession," he said.

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"It's an approach that undermines the confidence that patients have in their doctors; it's unacceptable."

There are about 5700 items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, 70 per cent of which have not changed since Medicare began in 1984.

Professor Owler said the review had the AMA's support with the proviso it was not simply a cost-cutting exercise.

He said any suggestion that 30 per cent of MBS items were inefficient or overused was ridiculous.

"To suggest that you're going to find 30 per cent of savings through the MBS – the only way you can do that is by cutting services to patients and cutting health funding," he said.

That means Australia will have a two-tiered system where the wealthy can access health services and the poor will be "confined to the scrap heap".

 


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-medical-association-accuses-government-of-attack-on-doctors-integrity-20150927-gjw0yx.html#ixzz3mw3ExQCt
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one for the fireplace...

The Turnbull government has dropped its plan to allow universities to set their own fees from next year, and will go back to the drawing board on higher education reform.

Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham will announce on Thursday that he will not reintroduce the government's higher education bill into Parliament for another vote this year.

Any changes to university fees will now come into effect in 2017 at the earliest, after the next federal election.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott immediately condemned the decision, saying he was "disappointed".


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-government-shelves-controversial-university-reforms-in-major-departure-from-abbott-era-20150930-gjynlt.html#ixzz3nH1PT4Zm 
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