Election 2022: Labor’s $1b plan to beef up Medicare

Labor has a new plan to fix Medicare worth nearly $1 billion, which will affect patients, GPs and see the creation of a new taskforce. Vote and have your say.

Patients will be given better access to GPs and doctors offered grants of up to $50,000 to improve their practices under an almost $1 billion plan by Labor to “strengthen” Medicare.

Under the plan, an Albanese government would set up a Medicare taskforce made up of peak medical bodies such the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to map out the priority programs needed to improve access.

A fund worth $750m over four years would also be established to deliver better access and care to patients with Labor citing “improved patient access” to GPs, including after-hours help, and better management of complex and chronic conditions.

The fund would kick in from financial year 2023, with the packet costed into the forward estimates.

Labor would also and out grants, worth $25,000 for small GP practices and $50,000 for larger clinics, to help GPs upgrade IT systems including for telehealth, upskill staff, purchase new equipment, upgrade ventilation and infection control and “make other improvements to ensure GPs can see more patients”.

The grants program will cost $220m.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, set to campaign in the Northern Territory on Saturday where the health system is crushingly underfunded, said people were telling him it was “getting harder and harder to see a doctor”.

“General practice is the cornerstone of the Australian health system,” Mr Albanese said.

“Australians trust their GPs. It’s a vital relationship in ensuring all Australians get the quality healthcare they deserve.”

Anthony Albanese is vowig to spend more money on Medicare. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The RACGP, in a submission to the federal health department’s draft primary health care 10 year plan in November, warned that general practice was in ‘a state of crisis’ that could further deteriorate unless substantial investment and reform do not take place. Calling general practice ‘the most efficient and cost-effective’ aspect of the health system, the college said that the urgency of the situation has been exacerbated by COVID-19.

The $970m spend comes after Labor early in the campaign announced a $135m plan to establish a trial of 50 Urgent Care Clinics in every state and territory.

State governments, including in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, have been calling for the federal government to increase its share of health funding from 45 per cent to 50 per cent – something Labor has yet to commit to.

The AMA’s Dr Omar Korshid recently said ambulance ramping was rife “and avoidable deaths are now an unacceptable reality.

“Yet despite this national emergency we are yet to see either party showing any leadership on hospitals,” he said.

The AMA has argued bringing in an even split on health funding across Australia would bump the total spend up by $20 billion over four years, though the peak body has also stated the way money is spent will need to change to be “more flexible”.

“Our local GPs were at the coalface of the COVID pandemic, providing COVID and vaccination advice, administering vaccines, and trying to keep up with their usual case load with little or no support from the Morrison Government,” Labor’s Health spokesman Mark Butler said.

“Australian GPs have endured a 6-year Medicare Rebate Freeze at the hands of Scott Morrison, which ripped $2.6 billion out of Medicare funding. These cuts have left GPs struggling to invest in upgrading equipment and IT systems, struggling to upskill staff, and falling behind on their ability to see more patients.”

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Originally published as Election 2022: Labor’s $1b plan to beef up Medicare