Federal election 2022: Cairns doctor, resident call for healthcare access reform

For a region starved of medical professionals access to and the cost of healthcare has long been a hot topic with locals now concerned about medication expenses as an election approaches.

FOR a region starved of medical professionals, access to and the cost of healthcare has long been a hot topic with locals now concerned of medication expenses ahead of the upcoming federal election.

But depending on what side of the affordability fence Far Northerners sit, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and private health insurance can play a huge role in their wellbeing and both are in need of government reform.

Redlynch resident Helen French said incentivising access to private health insurance should be a high government priority as Covid-19 had shown how vulnerable elderly people could be.

Ms French said skyrocketing premiums meant she was the only one among her friends and family to still have a policy, but it meant little.

Helen French, Skye Stockdale-Foster, pictured with Bangles the Jack Russell cross, both take daily prescription medications and say the federal government's pharmaceutical benefit scheme works well, while both dislike the rising cost of private health insurance. Picture: Brendan Radke

From $300 a month at one point to cover three people including her son, Ms French said it went up to $560 per month for just her and her partner before she cut extras.

“It’s cheaper to just go buy $700 worth of glasses or go to the dentist and pay now,” she said.

Ms French said the private health drawcard of cutting elective surgery wait times was also starting to lag.

“I worry for the elderly, who as we’ve seen during Covid, can’t afford to be in agony on long public wait lists, but sometimes private isn’t any better.”

Meanwhile, Cairns GP Dr Lee Jones said better healthcare could be achieved through streamlining the PBS scheduling process.

“I believe it’s really hard to choose what goes on there and what comes off. But the time it takes for something to be approved can be up to four years, not everyone has that long,” Dr Jones said.

Originally published as Federal election 2022: Cairns doctor, resident call for healthcare access reform