Pay-your-way overhaul of health

    Ben Packham
    The Australian
    February 22, 2014


THE Coalition has vowed to maintain universal healthcare but says individuals will have to pay their way as part of a whole-of-government efficiency drive that's set to reshape Medicare and the federal health bureaucracy.      

As the government builds its case for a major overhaul of health spending, Tony Abbott promised the overall pool of health funding would remain but it would be "crazy" not to improve the way funds were spent. The health industry is bracing for wide-ranging changes, including measures to allow private insurers to take stake in the primary care sector by allowing them to cover GP visits.

But a proposed $6 co-payment for bulk-billed GP visits is being dismissed as a "distraction", despite Health Minister Peter Dutton's support for the proposal.

Joe Hockey said Medicare was unsustainable, with its budget slated to rise by 15 per cent to $75 billion over three years.

He said the system must be restructured, but the ability of every Australian to access healthcare was not under threat.

"Universal healthcare can have payments from individuals. A lot of people go to the doctor and undertake healthcare and pay money along the way," Mr Hockey told Sky News.

"A lot of Australians already contribute along the way, the question is: how can we make sure that we have an appropriate quality of healthcare and how can we sustain that quality of healthcare over the medium and long term?"

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Australians should get the healthcare they needed, not the care they could afford, and accused the government of a secret agenda to cut services and hike patient costs.          

"We should not go down the American road where your access to the health system depends upon how rich you are," he said.

"Before the election Tony Abbott said that he wouldn't touch Medicare, that they wouldn't cut healthcare. After the election we're seeing every trick in the book so that Tony Abbott can break his promise."      

The Prime Minister said the Coalition would not break its word, but that didn't mean the health system would look exactly the same as it did prior to the election.

"Plainly there are efficiencies that are possible in health and in a whole host of areas," he said.

"For instance, we don't need anything like the half a dozen bureaucracies that the former government established as part of its hospital changes."

Health sector sources said the political cost of the proposed $6 co-payment for bulk-billed GP visits was unlikely to be worth the $750 million it would raise over four years.      

A more likely change was the axing of the "silly" barrier that prevented health insurers from covering GP visits, sources said.

Health fund NIB chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon said: "It's crazy we insurers can't legally reward a GP for working more closely with us to manage chronically ill patients."

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 10:12am:


NO SECRET  WE HAVE BEEN MAKING A CO PAYMENT FOR YEARS

mozzaok wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 10:44am:

Why Public Hospitals do not bill the insurers of patients who have private cover is beyond me.

I think if they do they get a bill for the extras  AS IT SHOULD BE!