Health budget aims to heal Coalition's Mediscare scare
The four-year freeze on Medicare rebates will finally lift this July for some GP visits, and extend to specialists and medical procedures over the next three years as part of a multibillion-dollar long-term health budget package to help restore the Coalition's standing with voters after last election's "Mediscare" campaign.
The package, to be billed as a road map for health over the next decade, will include the first disbursement of more than $700 million over three years from the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund to allow the government to inject funds in the lagging health and medical research sector without taking a direct hit to the budget bottom line.
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