Coalition vows not to stand in the way of Labor’s $8.5 billion Medicare boost
The Coalition has vowed not to stand in the way of Labor’s $8.5 billion boost to Medicare funding, as Labor moves to set up a federal election contest fought on access to health care.
Labor has promised nine out of 10 GP visits will be free from out-of-pocket expenses by the end of the decade, in what will be a cornerstone of their re-election pitch to voters struggling with the cost of living.
The policy, which will be formally unveiled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a rally in Launceston on Sunday, includes $8.5 billion in funding over four years and additional incentives for doctors who bulk-bill patients.
Labor has repeatedly warned that Medicare would be worse off under Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, but on Sunday the Coalition was quick to play down any difference between the major parties’ health policies.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the Coalition would not oppose Labor’s funding announcement when he was asked directly during an interview with Sky News, instead blaming Labor for falls in bulk-billing rates.
“We’re not going to get in the way of Labor cleaning up the mess that it has made and it’s important that the mess is cleaned up,” he said.
“What should have happened is we should have kept the gains or the benefits that we’d had when we were in government, that higher level of bulk billing, that lower level of out-of-pockets, but Labor’s failed again.”
Mr Taylor claimed that bulk-billing rates had dropped from 88 per cent when the Coalition was in government to 77 per cent under Labor.
But Health Minister Mark Butler dismissed those statistics as “skewed and misleading” in an interview immediately afterwards, and instead blamed the Coalition for overseeing a freeze on increasing the Medicare rebate.
The Medicare rebate was temporarily frozen under Labor in 2013, but that was continued until 2018 under the Coalition.
“Australia’s doctors hung on for as long as they possibly could after six years of having their income frozen while their costs continued to rise,” Mr Butler said.
“But at some point, the thing broke, and we inherited a situation when we came to government of bulk billing being in free fall.”
Chalmers says investment is ‘substantial and responsible’
The shadow treasurer also questioned where the additional funding for Medicare would come from, adding that the Coalition would work through that “over the next little while”.
“But I tell you what, we’ll continue to oppose bad Labor spending proposals, as we have throughout this term of parliament,” he said.
Appearing on ABC’s Insiders an hour later, his counterpart Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the election policy as a “substantial” and “responsible” investment that would help reduce pressure on household budgets.
“It’s hard to think of a more appropriate use of public funds than to strengthen Medicare and help with the cost of living,” he told ABC’s Insiders.
He said about $5.4 billion of the $8.5 billion announcement had already been provisioned for in the mid-year budget update.
The cost to the taxpayer of the bulk-billing expansion when it begins in November — if Labor is re-elected — starts at $1.1 billion in 2025-26, rising to $2.4 billion in 2028-29. Over the first four years, the total will reach $8.5 billion.
“Let’s not lose sight here of the main objective, strengthening Medicare to help with the cost of living. More doctors and more bulk billing means less pressure on household budgets,” Chalmers added.
He also labelled Mr Taylor’s vow not to stand in the way of the promised funding as “very tricky language”.
“No matter what they say today, you can’t trust Peter Dutton with Medicare,” he said.
Under Labor’s policy, Medicare rebates will be increased depending on location, from $42.85 to $69.56 for a standard consult in a metropolitan area up to as much as $86.91 in a remote area.
Those increases include an extra 12.5 per cent that will only be paid to practices that exclusively bulk-bill.
They are also promising 400 nursing scholarships and 2,000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.
The government has cited one ABS estimate that around 8.8 per cent of doctor visits are delayed because of the likely up-front cost, with the number of people in their 20s not going to the doctor tripling due to cost over the past three years.
