Australian Age care residents could be exempt from the $7 GP fee

SOME Australians could be exempted from the $7 GP fee in the first sign the government is prepared to compromise on the controversial Budget measure.

RESIDENTS in aged care homes could be exempted from the $7 GP fee in the first sign the government is prepared to compromise on the controversial Budget measure.

Health Minister Peter Dutton has said he agrees with the Australian Medical Association there are issues with charging the fee in aged care homes where residents have no access to money.

“There are issues that we’ve agreed with the AMA that we can work on, particularly around aged care,” Mr Dutton said yesterday.

“I think there’s more that we can do to try and provide GP and nursing services into aged care, and they’re the discussions we’re having with AMA President, Professor Owler,” Mr Dutton told John Laws on Sydney radio.

It’s a major shift in the government’s position and comes just a day after Mr Dutton said there would be no changes to the fee as outlined in the Budget.

On Wednesday AMA president Professor Brian Owler said Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the minister had told him they were prepared to compromise on the GP fee in a meeting in Canberra.

But Mr Dutton denied this and claimed the government was “committed to the introduction of the policy as announced in the Budget”.

Professor Owler yesterday welcomed the minister’s comments.

“It’s a good sign, it’s consistent with our conversation and it acknowledges that one of the issues that has to be addressed is aged care,” Professor Owler said.

The AMA president said the only way of dealing with the issue in aged care homes was to exempt their resident from paying the fee.

CHANGING TIMES: PM may dump $7 GP fee

A compromise ... some may be exempt from the GP co-payment, according to Health Minister Peter Dutton.

Without such a change in policy doctors would cease making visits to age care homes and patients would end up in hospital emergency departments, he said.

“Having GPs visit nursing homes needs to be encouraged,” he said.

The $7 GP fee is one of the more controversial aspects of the unpopular May Budget and is facing almost certain defeat in the Senate.

Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party are all opposed to the fee that would end bulk billing enjoyed by over 8 out of ten Australians.

The AMA says it won’t support the government slashing the Medicare rebate for GP visits by %4 as part of the introduction of the $7 GP fee.

It also wants more work done to protect the chronically ill, children and preventive health visits such as immunisation from the fee.

Mr Dutton said yesterday the government spent $20 billion a year just on Medicare, and was only raising about $10 billion out of the Medicare levy.

“We want to make sure that we can make Medicare affordable into the future,” he said.

The government says it will not scrap bulk billing under the changes and that doctors can still bulk bill.

However, the AMA says doctors who do this will lose between $5 and $14 income for every visit where they do bulk bill and that is uneconomic.

Originally published as Australian Age care residents could be exempt from the $7 GP fee