Labor puts another fiscal Band-Aid over Medicare reform
GP bulk billing is nearly 90 per cent, yet the government claims the sky is falling to justify a costly, unnecessary, politically driven splurge on incentives in the budget.
Before the budget, Health Minister Mark Butler told the National Press Club: “The case for reform is now urgent. We can’t keep trying to treat 21st-century Australia with 1980s Medicare.”
But instead of seizing the opportunity for comprehensive systemic reform urged on it by its own Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, reinforced by an insightful Grattan Institute report, to reimagine Medicare-funded general practice as a multidisciplinary team game, the Albanese government applied yet more policy and fiscal Band-Aids to keep Australia’s healthcare system ticking over.
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Terry Barnes is a Liberal Party member and policy consultant who formerly advised federal and Victorian Liberal ministers.
