Healthcare sector threatens bruising political battle after Medicare cuts   :)

Date
    December 19, 2015
    Sydney Morning Herald

The backlash from the federal government's cuts to pathology and imaging services has made one thing clear: health minister Sussan Ley has a fight on her hands.

The battle erupted after the mid-year budget update this week, in which Treasurer Scott Morrison identified $650 million of savings from axing or reducing bulk-billing incentive payments for things like blood tests, X-rays and MRIs.

Big listed healthcare companies such as Sonic Healthcare have come out swinging and vowed to oppose the cuts, while Labor and the Greens have pledged to block the measures. There are threats to have material criticising the decision in every one of the thousands of sample collection centres in the country. 


Sonic, Primary Health Care, Integral Diagnostics, and Capitol Health have all signalled their intent to charge co-payments to recoup the fee cut.

In a strongly worded statement attacking the lack of consultation and promising "mitigating actions" including co-payments and reduced services in rural areas, Sonic Healthcare warned it will not go quietly into the night.

"Sonic Healthcare will work with opposition parties, consumer groups and patients to oppose these measures, as we believe they are unreasonable for the profession and patients," the company said.



Opposition promises fight

The opposition has raised the spectre of a fierce political campaign in an election year.   

Coalition ministers will not have forgotten the devastating impact of the orchestrated campaign, led by the Australian Medical Association, against the Abbott government's ill-fated GP co-payment plan.


Health minister Sussan Ley has a fight on her hands following funding cuts to pathology and imaging.

The AMA, the well-oiled machine lobbying on behalf of doctors, was quick to call this week's Medicare cuts a "co-payment by stealth", tarring the new policy change with the same brush as the now-defunct Abbott government policy.

AMA president Brian Owler said that after the long fight over the GP co-payment the government is "back to square one".

"This is not the way health policy is normally run," he said.

"This was seen as unfair in 2014 and I don't know why the government wants to continue to attack the sickest and most vulnerable patients."

Dr Owler said that there will be "ongoing activity around this issue highlighting the problems for patients".

He said the public can expect to see material from pathologists and the AMA in "every collection centre in the country".

Pathology Australia chief executive Liesel Wett, who represents the nation's private pathology industry, said there are more 5500 pathology collection centres in Australia.

"Millions of people get pathology tests so pathology providers have access to all Australians," she said.

Ms Wett said that in the past the industry always had an agreement with the government, even when funding cuts have been announced.

She said that this time there was no agreement with government.
'Shareholders above patients'

Health Minister Sussan Ley accused pathology and imaging businesses of looking out for their shareholders, rather than their patients.

"Medicare is not designed to be a guaranteed bankable revenue for corporations, nor is a taxpayer-funded bulk billing incentive there to cross-subsidise other costs of doing business. It's common sense, but it's starting to feel like a broken record that we have to keep reminding them," she said.

"To see diagnostic providers suggesting they will try and recoup the loss of a bulk billing incentive by passing it onto a patient they are no longer bulk billing just proves the point we are making."

The bulk billing incentive was introduced in 2009 by the Rudd Labor government when Nicola Roxon was health minister.

In the pathology sector, it was designed to partially offset a Medicare fee cut and to increase or maintain bulk billing rates.

It was feared at the time that the fee cut would lead to a spike in private billing so an incentive to bulk bill, ranging from $2 to $4 per collection in the private sector, was introduced.

The measure was expected to cost $348 million over four years, while fee cuts to the pathology sector were expected to save $763.4 million over four years.

Pathology funds cut

Pathology funding has been cut by about $250 million a year since 2010, while an explosion in rental costs at pathology collection centres has loaded around $500 million in additional costs on the sector.

St John of God Pathology chief executive Michael Hogan said the newly proposed cuts, combined with rising costs and fee pressures, would force smaller players to close their doors.

"Deregulation of Approved Collection Centres [in 2010] has meant that cost pressures, especially from rents, have significantly increased while revenue rates have steadily declined due to government policy," Mr Hogan said.

Minister Ley said this week that Labor had "blown $500 million" on the incentive, which had increased bulk billing by just one per cent.

She also took aim at the diagnostic imaging incentive, which she said cost $1.3 billion over five years and failed to "improve bulk billing rates beyond natural growth".

Labor, and the health industry, have been quick to point out that bulk-billing rates have been maintained, implying that the policy has achieved its aim.

"This measure not only maintained existing bulk-billing rate but saw them increase. Labor's incentive has done exactly what it was designed to do," Shadow health minister Catherine King said in a statement.

Dr Christian Wriedt, president of the Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association (ADIA), said that the government had been misleading in its claims.

"The Government's own statistics show the bulk billing rate in diagnostic imaging has increased by more than 10 per-cent since 2009," he said.

Dr Wriedt said that the incentive is a "patient rebate" not a "corporate subsidy" and said the 17-year freeze on indexation of the Medicare rebate had hurt the industry.

The ADIA estimates that patients will face a minimum gap of $4.70 for a chest X-ray and $60.45 for an MRI of the head.

While the fight over bulk-billing incentive rages, the government is desperately trying to keep a lid on ballooning healthcare expenditure and drag the budget back into surplus.
Health spending 10pc of GDP

Spending on healthcare hit $155 billion in 2014-15, almost 10 per cent of GDP.

"What people are overlooking is the fact we've had to find an additional $620 million to fund new drug listings since we handed down the budget six months ago. This is on top of the $1.6 billion of new drug listings we actually announced in the Budget and is just one example of the growing competition for the health dollar," Minister Ley said.

"There's no longer room in our budget for inefficient health spending to be overlooked as business as usual. We've seen from the MYEFO figures that we don't have the surplus cash to splash as Labor did when this introduced this ill-conceived policy and people want action."

There is a view in the government that even if industry had been consulted, it would have reacted in exactly the same way to protect its earnings.

Regardless, the industry has made it clear that it does not intend to absorb the cuts.
Shares pummelled

On Friday listed radiology group Integral Diagnostics followed the other big corporates and said it intends to "mitigate" the impact of the cuts.

"Mitigating steps are likely to include the introduction of co-payments for relevant patient classes," the company said.

Integral floated on the Australian Securities Exchange at $1.91 a share in October. The stock was trading around $1.70 on Friday, having partially recovered from a sharp nose dive after the cuts were announced.

The other listed healthcare providers affected by the cuts have also seen their shares pummelled.

In a research note titled "Kill Bulk-Bill", Morgan Stanley analyst Sean Laaman estimated that Medicare funding for pathology would fall by four per cent, or $334 million, and imaging funding would fall by three per cent, or $317 million, if the cuts are introduced.

But, Mr Laaman noted, "these measures need to pass the Senate" and this is "not a foregone conclusion, as the failed GP co-pay shows".

In an interview with Sky on Wednesday Treasurer Morrison indicated that the government may be willing to back away from the measures.

"My message is simply this, if other parties have better saving, different savings that can replace those we have put forward well, put them on the table," he said.

Minister Ley told the ABC on Thursday that she does "not expect any changes to this policy".

At any rate the issue does not look like it will go away any time soon.

Ms Ley's review into the Medicare Benefits Schedule is rolling on and the AMA and other lobby groups are trying to use the "shock MYEFO cuts" as a means to discredit and undermine the MBS review.

The AMA will meet with the pathology and imaging industry before Christmas and expects to meet with Ms Ley on the issue.

this has the potential to bring the libs crashing down just like abbotts co payment bought him crashing down. Well done turncoat for trying to sabotage your election chances

oh more good news for crook.. you must be delirious with happiness crook..

does this mean.. more STRIKES... oh goody

The opposition has raised the spectre of a fierce political campaign in an election year.   

Coalition ministers will not have forgotten the devastating impact of the orchestrated campaign, led by the Australian Medical Association, against the Abbott government's ill-fated GP co-payment plan.   :)

funny thing about this country and nothing proves it more than reading the Political forums.



everyone WANTS EVERYTHING.. not only that they want it on their doorsteps....

remember the shock horror of Abbott expecting someone to TRAVEL to a job

then it was the measly $7 a doctor visit to help find cures for spina bifida... amongst other horrors...

but NO ONE wants to CONTRIBUTE...

WHAT ME......PAY FOR THAT! ;D ;D

they all LOOK TO SOMEONE ELSE TO FIX THE LEAKING HOLE..... its not our problem its their>....

>:( >:( >:(

wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 8:32am:

The opposition has raised the spectre of a fierce political campaign in an election year.    Coalition ministers will not have forgotten the devastating impact of the orchestrated campaign, led by the Australian Medical Association, against the Abbott government's ill-fated GP co-payment plan.   :)

where does the MEDICAL ASSOC.. suggest they get the money from?????...........

this is what I see crook... they never have the ANSWERS.... HEALTH IS A MASSIVE BITE OUT OF THE BUDGET.....MASSIVE AND GROWING DAILY..

but you dont wish to PAY MORE TAXES....

do you really think the FEW wealthy people in this country can keep plugging these HOLES..

as they seem to be the only TARGET...

Ley and Dutton have to be two of the most "special" politicians in Government.

They're like the human equivalent of a potato.

    Liberal Governments want to destroy Medicare - always have and always will.
    It's just the tactics and excuses that change.
    Meanwhile companies with combined profits in excess of $400 billion are paying NO tax whatsoever and plenty of others are paying just a tiny percentage of their massive profits in tax.
    It's not Medicare spending that is the real problem.   :(

Commenter
    Milankovitch   
Location
    Reality
Date and time
    December 19, 2015, 9:12AM

wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 9:32am:

Liberal Governments want to destroy Medicare - always have and always will.     It's just the tactics and excuses that change.     Meanwhile companies with combined profits in excess of $400 billion are paying NO tax whatsoever and plenty of others are paying just a tiny percentage of their massive profits in tax.     It's not Medicare spending that is the real problem.   :( Commenter     Milankovitch    Location     Reality Date and time     December 19, 2015, 9:12AM

omg.... and some believe this crap....

they are trying to STOP A RUNAWAY TRAINWRECK...

communism is alive and well in this country

Lets block these cuts, by all means. We don't need to reduce spending because we ought to be spending more!!! Gawd, you Leftards are imbeciles. You want everything, just not to pay for it.

    I take it that you have not dedicated your life in service to your patients, oh, of course not! There are far more lucrative avenues for the greedy, or is it the reverse snobbery in action. I watched in horror, when, the threat of a $7 co-payment caused about 1/3 of our blood thinning patients to not come for an essential blood test meant to stop them from having a Stroke.
    We had to phone them and explain that we weren't charging the $7 that they couldn't afford.
    Did anyone do the investigations into the rise in the number of Strokes during that time?   :o

Commenter
    ratty
Location
    brisvegas
Date and time
    December 19, 2015, 9:27AM

Armchair_Politician wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 10:10am:

Lets block these cuts, by all means. We don't need to reduce spending because we ought to be spending more!!! Gawd, you Leftards are imbeciles. You want everything, just not to pay for it.

Says the person who thinks Corporations ripping billions from the Australian economy to cayman island bank accounts are the poor victims being targeted by the "dumb leftists".

Oh poor multi-billion corporations, how will us leftists sleep at night knowing that corporate CEO's can still do coke off hookers asses on a yacht while poor Australians can't afford to go to the doctor and die from preventable illnesses.

Damn us, where did we go so wrong!?

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 12:03pm:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 10:10am: Lets block these cuts, by all means. We don't need to reduce spending because we ought to be spending more!!! Gawd, you Leftards are imbeciles. You want everything, just not to pay for it. Says the person who thinks Corporations ripping billions from the Australian economy to cayman island bank accounts are the poor victims being targeted by the "dumb leftists". Oh poor multi-billion corporations, how will us leftists sleep at night knowing that corporate CEO's can still do coke off hookers asses on a yacht while poor Australians can't afford to go to the doctor and die from preventable illnesses. Damn us, where did we go so wrong!?

Really? Where'd I say that? Besides, what's that got to do with this topic? You haven't got anything to refute this decision with, have you?  ;D ;D ;D

Armchair_Politician wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 10:10am:

Lets block these cuts, by all means. We don't need to reduce spending because we ought to be spending more!!! Gawd, you Leftards are imbeciles. You want everything, just not to pay for it.

Sack the politicians for a start.. I'll run the show as Your Benevolent Diktator for the cost of one PM....... no multi layers of government.... a loyal work and military force..... public service happy or gulaged.... no arguments from uppity Muslims - one strike of one foul word and you're out digging the Outback roads by hand, tunnelling through the mountains to fill the GAIA (Eyre) with seawater...

(down at ye olde tunnel face)....

"OK, Mohamed - nearly through!  Now when we give the signal, you and your mates dig away the last few feet that keep the ocean out!  We'll be waiting for you at the outside once you're finished with a nice cup of camel toe soup and praises to Allah.!"

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 8:55am:

Ley and Dutton have to be two of the most "special" politicians in Government. They're like the human equivalent of a potato.

And what is a 'communist potato'?

AN IMPORTED ONE, from a capitalist country.

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 12:03pm:

Armchair_Politician wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 10:10am: Lets block these cuts, by all means. We don't need to reduce spending because we ought to be spending more!!! Gawd, you Leftards are imbeciles. You want everything, just not to pay for it. Says the person who thinks Corporations ripping billions from the Australian economy to cayman island bank accounts are the poor victims being targeted by the "dumb leftists". Oh poor multi-billion corporations, how will us leftists sleep at night knowing that corporate CEO's can still do coke off hookers asses on a yacht while poor Australians can't afford to go to the doctor and die from preventable illnesses. Damn us, where did we go so wrong!?

We could always apply the communist doctrine of poverty-for-all and freeedom-for-none.

Well you may like to blame the corporations running our pathology services and keeping thousands of collection centres open in urban & rural areas
But their profits are not crash hot I can tell you
The same goes for the medical imaging providers
Or you might want to criticise the medical profession and the AMA. But I tell you my GP works his butt off for the paltry medicare rebate and spends a lot of time with his patients for it.

The stark reality is that medicare is way underfunded for the service we all expect nowadays.

bogarde73 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 2:09pm:

Well you may like to blame the corporations running our pathology services and keeping thousands of collection centres open in urban & rural areas But their profits are not crash hot I can tell you The same goes for the medical imaging providers Or you might want to criticise the medical profession and the AMA. But I tell you my GP works his butt off for the paltry medicare rebate and spends a lot of time with his patients for it. The stark reality is that medicare is way underfunded for the service we all expect nowadays.

That is true, but dont cry tears for doctors. They are not broke or poor. They might work hard, but that is hardly a rare thing.

mariacostel wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 2:06pm:

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 8:55am: Ley and Dutton have to be two of the most "special" politicians in Government. They're like the human equivalent of a potato. And what is a 'communist potato'? AN IMPORTED ONE, from a capitalist country.

Oh wow, so clever. I love how you think I'm ashamed of being a Socialist.

At least I'm not a Neo-Nazi White Nationalist piece of dogshit like yourself.

Oh also if you're actually some old boomer, guess what, I'm going to live longer than you, enjoy having to come to grips with your own death in a handful of years.

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 3:23pm:

mariacostel wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 2:06pm: Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 8:55am: Ley and Dutton have to be two of the most "special" politicians in Government. They're like the human equivalent of a potato. And what is a 'communist potato'? AN IMPORTED ONE, from a capitalist country. Oh wow, so clever. I love how you think I'm ashamed of being a Socialist. At least I'm not a Neo-Nazi White Nationalist piece of dogshit like yourself. Oh also if you're actually some old boomer, guess what, I'm going to live longer than you, enjoy having to come to grips with your own death in a handful of years.

Lovely little piece of work, arent you?  Really living up to the communist ideals of keep everyone down, poor and with no hope.

Go on...  entertain us all with more stories of the Glorious USSR and its triumph over prosperity, innovation and freedom?  Then go and eat your capitalist potato or some nice capitalist bread, just as did half of the USSR because they couldnt grow their own.

Not long left, the clock is ticking, tick, tock, tick, tock. Your life is behind you, not long left to go. tick tock tick tock.

You are going to be dead in a few years, only a few years left, probably less than the fingers on your hand. tick, tock, tick, tock.

You're wasting your last years on this earth on an internet forum trying to act superior than anonymous people who, for all you know, could be bots.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.

Hear that clock, every moment is a moment lost.

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 3:42pm:

Not long left, the clock is ticking, tick, tock, tick, tock. Your life is behind you, not long left to go. tick tock tick tock. You are going to be dead in a few years, only a few years left, probably less than the fingers on your hand. tick, tock, tick, tock. You're wasting your last years on this earth on an internet forum trying to act superior than anonymous people who, for all you know, could be bots. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. Hear that clock, every moment is a moment lost.

Got 30-40 years left and I will spend them happy, prosperous, surrounded by loving family and grandkids. I will help start another business perhaps and enjoy the challenges of capitalism and wealth.

I have no idea what you will do. But I am certain you wil do it alone and feeling anger and rage every day as your beloved Communism remains the global joke that it has long been.

Pulling back on front line medical services results in having to pay more to treat critical problems later.

It is false economy to have people avoiding detection and early treatment.

mariacostel wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 3:46pm:

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 3:42pm: Not long left, the clock is ticking, tick, tock, tick, tock. Your life is behind you, not long left to go. tick tock tick tock. You are going to be dead in a few years, only a few years left, probably less than the fingers on your hand. tick, tock, tick, tock. You're wasting your last years on this earth on an internet forum trying to act superior than anonymous people who, for all you know, could be bots. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. Hear that clock, every moment is a moment lost. Got 30-40 years left and I will spend them happy, prosperous, surrounded by loving family and grandkids. I will help start another business perhaps and enjoy the challenges of capitalism and wealth. I have no idea what you will do. But I am certain you wil do it alone and feeling anger and rage every day as your beloved Communism remains the global joke that it has long been.

There is no certainty that any of us have even 30 or 40 minutes left.

Feeling anger and rage? I'm not the one who just randomly abuses people on internet forums for no reason because I can't make any point.

I love how you think I give a single bugger about the USSR when I've made it clear I'm not a Leninist or Stalinist. Or are you too stupid that you don't realize that Socialism has many different schools of thought?

Also another point, I would rather be a Leninist than a deluded fascist white nationalist like yourself who has a seething hatred for the working class and working poor and anyone with brown skin because you're a deluded old bat who has no joy in your life so you have to pretend you're wealth is a sign of how happy you are instead of actually having anything worth cherishing.

I love how you think I'm poor, which couldn't be further from the truth, if I didn't have a large amount of capital saved and invested, I couldn't be spending my time online hearing your senile old delusional ramblings, the difference is, I've never lost touch with my working class background and I still recognize the inherent structural issues within Capitalism that make it an exploitative system that will doom the planet and itself.

You on the other hand, are your typical bourgeoisie nutter who doesn't want to recognize any form of power relation or privilege in the world and wants to accept what is largely the set of lucky circumstances that gave you your opportunity as a sign of your own superiority to other humans. I have no doubt in my mind if Slavery was still legal, you would be 100% for it because you've shown on this forum numerous times, you're a Fascist supremacist who holds everyone else in contempt.

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 3:55pm:

Feeling anger and rage? I'm not the one who just randomly abuses people on internet forums for no reason because I can't make any point. I love how you think I give a single bugger about the USSR when I've made it clear I'm not a Leninist or Stalinist. Or are you too stupid that you don't realize that Socialism has many different schools of thought? Also another point, I would rather be a Leninist than a deluded fascist white nationalist like yourself who has a seething hatred for the working class and working poor and anyone with brown skin because you're a deluded old bat who has no joy in your life so you have to pretend you're wealth is a sign of how happy you are instead of actually having anything worth cherishing. I love how you think I'm poor, which couldn't be further from the truth, if I didn't have a large amount of capital saved and invested, I couldn't be spending my time online hearing your senile old delusional ramblings, the difference is, I've never lost touch with my working class background and I still recognize the inherent structural issues within Capitalism that make it an exploitative system that will doom the planet and itself. You on the other hand, are your typical bourgeoisie nutter who doesn't want to recognize any form of power relation or privilege in the world and wants to accept what is largely the set of lucky circumstances that gave you your opportunity as a sign of your own superiority to other humans. I have no doubt in my mind if Slavery was still legal, you would be 100% for it because you've shown on this forum numerous times, you're a Fascist supremacist who holds everyone else in contempt.

Your continue rantings indicate just how I got under your skin - albeit skin not worthy of the freedom and prosperity you inherited by the democracy you loathe.

It is a lot of fun baiting the intellectual and political underclass of which you are such a stereotypical example.

And there you are mods. Maria 100% admitting she is just a sh**poster who baits people and derails threads on purpose.

Ban time.

Bye bye Maria!

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 4:12pm:

And there you are mods. Maria 100% admitting she is just a sh**poster who baits people and derails threads on purpose. Ban time. Bye bye Maria!

All you are and all you will ever be.

---

A hipster crying. That's a ripper Maria. Somebody spat is his latte.  ;D ;D ;D

the good ole boys wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 4:23pm:

A hipster crying. That's a ripper Maria. Somebody spat is his latte.  ;D ;D ;D

I could get some communists crying, but cameras didnt arrive in Russia until 2005. Cameras were of course invented by russians, just the like the car, air travel, computers, phones etc and all in the last 20 years.

Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19^th, 2015 at 3:23pm:

mariacostel wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 2:06pm: Kiron22 wrote on Dec 19th, 2015 at 8:55am: Ley and Dutton have to be two of the most "special" politicians in Government. They're like the human equivalent of a potato. And what is a 'communist potato'? AN IMPORTED ONE, from a capitalist country. Oh wow, so clever. I love how you think I'm ashamed of being a Socialist. At least I'm not a Neo-Nazi White Nationalist piece of dogshit like yourself. Oh also if you're actually some old boomer, guess what, I'm going to live longer than you, enjoy having to come to grips with your own death in a handful of years.

Kiron I have started a thread on socialism:

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1450997927