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May 12, 2017AMA (NSW) President, Prof Brad Frankum, says the 2017-18 Federal Budget is a disappointment and that it won’t have an appreciable effect on people’s access to healthcare.
“AMA has been on record for years as saying insufficient investment in health will only block access to care for the poor, sick and vulnerable.
“The small and incremental increases to the Medicare bulk billing incentive and Medicare rebate hardly amount to what you could call a removal of the freeze.
“The Government is beginning by indexing the Medicare bulk billing incentive for children and concession card holders.
“This is money that is paid in addition to the Medicare rebate for general practitioners who bulk bill their patients.
“The Medicare bulk billing incentive currently stands at $6.15.
“Indexation on that amount will only be a few cents.
“On top of this, children and concession card holders who are already privately billed by their doctor won’t even see this meagre increase.
“This is not an encouraging start and we won’t see patients’ Medicare rebates indexed again until July next year.
“At this rate it will be many years before patients see an appreciable difference in out-of-pocket costs.
“This is a crushing blow for general practice in NSW and continues to be an ongoing problem for specialists and the patients who need their care in this state.
“This is much less than we would expect from a Government who was serious about quality healthcare and bulk billing to be spending.
“NSW hospitals are seeing massive increases in demand, driven by patients who are arriving at emergency departments in sicker states than ever before.
“The lack of investment in general practice will only help drive this trend.
“The $2.8 billion the Federal Government is offering to increase funding for public hospitals by over the next four years, is a drop in the ocean.
“$2.8 billion would not even fund the operation of two large Local Health Districts in Sydney for a year, let alone provide a boost to the entire country’s hospitals over four years.
“Last year, the AMA described a $2.9 billion pledge for public hospitals from COAG over three years as just a down payment after cuts to growth funding were made in the 2014-15 Budget.
“AMA (NSW) has a similar sentiment for the increase in spending on hospitals announced in this Budget,” Prof Frankum said.
Media contact: Lachlan Jones 0419 402 955