Hunter doctors have welcomed the federal government’s decision to scrap the $5 GP co-payment.
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But they fear that costs of running a medical practice will rise under plans to freeze the Medicare rebate for the next four years and lead to the end of bulk billing.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the co-payment was “dead, buried and cremated” yesterday after months of speculation over the fate of the heavily criticised proposal.
The government wanted to introduce the co-payment to help fight a forecast rise in the cost of Medicare from $20 billion to $34 billion over the next decade.
Health Minister Susan Ley will consult medical professionals on how savings can be found in other ways.
Hunter General Practitioners Association chairman Dr Tony Isaac said the group remained concerned about the government’s intentions for Medicare.
He said many doctors wondered whether there would be further attempted attacks on general practices in the near future.
“While we applaud the government’s position to drop the proposed $5 co-payment, we remain concerned about the freezing of Medicare rebates for the next four years because this will effectively mean a co-payment by stealth,” Dr Isaac said.
“This will happen because the costs of running a practice – staff costs, rent, electricity, insurances– will continue to rise over the next four years, but income will not if the GP continues to bulk bill.
“Practice viability will be reduced until the doctor decides to either close the practice or change their business model to impose a fee on everyone, effectively ending bulk billing. This may be the government’s true intention.”
Paterson MP Bob Baldwin said the government was committed to protecting Medicare in the long term.
“This includes maintaining high-quality care and treatment for all Australians, as well as ensuring bulk billing remains for concessional patients and the vulnerable,” he said.
“It is clear the proposal for an optional $5 co-payment does not have broad support. Hence, the measure, including the proposed $5 reduction to the Medicare rebate, will therefore no longer proceed and has been taken off the table.
“I met with groups of GPs from my electorate and I communicated their message to the new Health Minister, two days later the government announced its pause on indexation of Medicare rebates for GP and non-GP items.”
Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon said: “It’s clear the leadership issue forced the back down and reading between the lines Tony Abbott will turn to a different way of saving money at the expense of those who can least afford to pay”.