Armchair_Politician wrote on Oct 8^th, 2014 at 6:52am:


Yet apparently you could imagine all sorts of situations that would have children starving & people living in dumpsters for every Labor policy or amendment.
Something about pensioners freezing to death even though the government paid then more then they spent, etc

Curious

so Swag, if they agree to the co-payment does that mean the bus ride  is free?

talk about dead set stupid arguments .... the co-payment is a new bill on top of any existing ... you pretending they'll somehow save by going to the GP instead of the hospital is ridiculous.

Mr Abbott, we want the doctor that does the bulk billing.  We don't want your Co payment.      

Bam wrote on Oct 8^th, 2014 at 7:49pm:


Yep they want to live out of everyone else's pocket Mr Abbott.

I know it's difficult to drill through double brick but you need to try and get through their thick skulls that Mr Rudd has already used up everyone else's money. 

Dnarever wrote on Oct 8^th, 2014 at 8:04pm:


That's a new one - never heard of anyone - never hearing of any doctor doing that? 

It's bad policy.
GPs are the cheapest part of the health system and play the vital gate keeper role.
Hospitals and specialist care are hugely expensive.
And the value of preventative health , mainly done in general practice is that it saves expensive hospital care, if done correctly

GP tax to hit cancer patients      

Date
    October 8, 2014



Cancer and other chronic disease sufferers will be hit with significant advance costs for medical imaging and other pathology testing under the government's proposed $7 GP co-payment, according to evidence given to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.      

The Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association has warned that previously undiscussed impacts of the fee mean people with the greatest need to get access to complex medical services will be the worst affected.

And many will remain worse off even after rebates are received.

The ADIA says a person suffering liver cancer will be hit with a fee of more than $1200 for scans, consultations and pathology and this figure will climb to more than $2200 if that cancer has metastasised, that is, spread beyond the liver.

In the first case, the cancer sufferer will be up to $264 worse off over a year and in the second case up to $678 worse off, according to the group's modelling.

It says the hike stems from decisions that abolish the bulk-billing incentive from July 1 next year, an aspect of the GP co-payment package, which will have rebates for X-rays, MRI, PET scans and ultrasounds reduced from 95 to 85 per cent for patients who were previously bulk-billed.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the modelling showed why the proposed fee was unfair and would continued to be opposed by Labor and the crossbench senators.

"The full extent of the pain from Tony Abbott's GP tax goes way beyond the doctor's surgery, with experts revealing cancer patients will now be forced to fork out thousands of dollars upfront to pay for MRI, X-rays, CAT scans and mammograms," he said.      

He said it was a "hidden trap" that would "force many cancer patients to pay extraordinary fees upfront, even those on healthcare and pensioner concession cards".

"The trap exposes Tony Abbott's GP tax as not just a tax on visits to the doctor, it's also a pathology tax, a diagnostic imaging tax and an MRI tax.      

"That's because the impact of the GP tax is compounded by a 10-15 per cent cut in the rebate paid to radiologists, and the abolition of a safety net for high-cost diagnostic imaging services such as PET scans and nuclear medicine.

"According to the Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association, patients will be forced to pay $90 upfront for every X-ray, $380 for every CAT scan, up to $160 for every mammogram and $190 for every ultrasound. For those unfortunate enough to need a PET scan, the upfront cost could be as high as $1000."

Mr Shorten claimed that, even after Medicare rebates, patients would be paying an extra $160 for every scan.

The aim of the GP co-payment was to raise $1.2 billion, much of which would be used to nourish a medical research fund.

The government justified the measure on the principle of the need for a price signal on doctors' services, but the principle was never raised before the election.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gp-tax-to-hit-cancer-patients-20141008-1136tj.html#ixzz3FaIbNCdN

Medicare bulk-billing rates are highest in Labor-held electorates

    The Australian
    October 09, 2014


LABOR holds the seats with the highest bulk-billing rates and Coalition MPs represent areas where patients are most accustomed to paying to see a doctor, according to Medicare figures that deliver a political headache for the Abbott government.      

The political divide over controversial budget plans for a $7 GP co-payment is laid bare in figures released by the Health Department after a Freedom of Information request from The Australian.

Before the May budget, Joe Hockey made the case for a co-payment by declaring, repeatedly, that his electorate of North Sydney had “one of the highest bulk-billing rates in Australia (despite being) one of the wealthiest electorates in Australia’’.

“To me there is something wrong with that,’’ the Treasurer said at the time.

Under pressure from the opposition over the claims, Mr Hockey later tempered his comments to say only that the bulk-billing rate in North Sydney had been “quite high” but “is not high at the moment”.

While the department stopped publishing electorate bulk-billing figures some years ago, the figures obtained under FOI laws reveal North Sydney had a bulk-billing rate of 64.8 per cent in 2013-14 — the 10th-lowest and 28 percentage points below the top rate.

The electorate with the lowest bulk-billing rate overall was Curtin, in Perth’s western suburbs, held by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, with 57.2 per cent. Nine of the 10 lowest rates were in electorates represented by Liberal or Liberal National Party MPs.

By contrast, nine of the 10 highest bulk-billing electorates were held by Labor, including that of opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen, whose electorate of McMahon had a rate of 89.9 per cent. Labor is campaigning to “save Medicare”.

Tony Abbott’s electorate of Warringah, on Sydney’s northern beaches, had a bulk-billing rate of 60.9 per cent, making it one of the lowest, while Bill Shorten’s electorate of Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s northwest, had a rate of 80.1 per cent.

Health Minister Peter Dutton’s electorate of Dickson, in Brisbane’s north, had a rate of 75.2 per cent, while opposition health spokesman Catherine King’s electorate of Ballarat had a rate of 75.4 per cent.

Under the budget proposal, the government would cut $5 from routine Medicare rebates and give doctors and other providers an incentive payment to charge patients $7 and pocket the difference. The savings would initial­ly be used to establish a $20 billion medical research futur­e fund and ultimately help the budget bottom line.

The figures support The Australian’s analysis in April that a co-payment would hit traditional Labor voters hardest and might ultimately shift costs to state-run public hospitals.

Labor yesterday seized on pre-budget modelling by NSW Health that showed under a $6 co-payment, as was initially floated, 500,000 patients would attend public hospital emergency departments instead of a GP.      

The budget suggested the states combat this by charging patients who attended emergency departments with GP-level complaints, however, the states have ruled out such a move.

The Opposition Leader expressed concern over evidence to a Senate inquiry that out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic imaging, most of which would attract the co-payment, would skyrocket as a result of changes to the rebate and safety nets.

“The GP tax is a disaster for health, and a disaster for the budget,’’ Mr Shorten said.      

Mr Dutton has rejected altern­ative proposals for the co-payment but has not given up hope of getting the measure through the Senate, where it faces defeat in its current form.

“The government is determined to strengthen Medicare and make it sustainable,’’ his spokesman said yesterday. “Discussions with the independent senators are continuing.”