Q: What’s this about the new Medicare safety net?
A: It’s one of the ways we’re weakening Medicare.
While Medicare has always covered you in public hospitals, the new Safety Net won’t deliver anything to 95% of Australians and the majority of the funds for it will be spent on bureaucratic red tape. This means the price of health care will go up.
Q: Like what I pay to my GP?
A: Yes, the costs for a whole range of treatments – like specialists, x-rays, tests, scans...
Q: But we already get a Medicare rebate on those.
A: And that will continue
But often you need to pay a gap.
Q: So how does it work?
A: Well, 200 000 people will get benefits from the safety net, but the other 19 million of us will get precisely nothing.
You don’t get any assistance at all until you’ve spent either $500 or $1000 and a third of the money is actually going to be eaten up by Big Brother style administration.
Q: Sounds good - but when does it kick in?
A: October 9 if you vote for Howard.
Q: But are you taking anything away?
A: No. We’ve already done that over the past 8 years. There’s really not a whole lot left that we can take away. Believe me, we’ve looked.
Q: But what’s this about new incentives for doctors to bulk bill?
A: Well it’s one of the ways we’re pretending to fix up the things we’ve already stuffed up. You see, under Labor, bulk billing by GPs reached 80%. Now it’s fallen to 67% so we’ve got to make a show of doing something.
Q: I know, so what are you doing to help?
A: We’re giving doctors more incentives to bulk bill. Medicare is now paying them a whopping $5 more every time they bulk bill Children under 16 and Commonwealth Concession Card holders.
Q: Well, that does sounds good.
A: Yes. It does doesn’t it. But really it means jack all. Think about it. If a doctor can rush through more non bulk billed patients and charge them $25 per consultation, do you think they’ll care about a fiver from the Government?
A: But the people on that ad sounded so convincing.
Q: That’s just one of the ways we’re strengthening the Liberal Party.
Q: Like what?
A: Well, we’ve signed a Free Trade Agreement where we tried to rip apart the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme..
Q: That’s good. So what else has changed?
A: Well we’re making it sound as though we’re increasing the numbers of doctors and nurses in General Practice.
Q: Sounds good, but I’d like to know the details.
A: Well it’s all nonsense! Think about it, what GP would employ a nurse who didn't know exactly what they were doing, when it might increase the practice's legal risk. So these nurses are going to be in the health system already, and will be pulled from it to be GP assistants or adjuncts.
Q: Wow you guys really are clever.
A: Over the next few weeks we’ll explain how these and other measures are weakening Medicare and what they mean for you.
To find out more, look out for this booklet, or call us on 1800 011 163, or visit the website.