Albanese, Dutton in bidding war over ‘free’ GP visits
The PM dropped a bombshell announcement overnight. Peter Dutton has just gone even bigger.
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Peter Dutton has moved to outbid Anthony Albanese’s big investment in “free” GP visits confirming he will not only match it but outbid him on Medicare.
The Liberal leader made the big move today in a bid to neutralise the Labor Party’s hopes of killing his chances of winning the next election by outspending him on bulk billing.
Anthony Albanese announced overnight an $8 billion investment in Medicare to deliver “free” GP visits for Australians.
But Mr Dutton didn’t waste any time on Sunday confirming that not only would he not stand in the way, he was prepared to spend more to ensure Australians could see a GP without paying an out of pocket fee.
“An elected Dutton Coalition Government will invest an historic $9 billion into Medicare to fix Labor’s healthcare crisis and ensure all Australians have timely and affordable access to a doctor,” he said.
“Under Labor’s bulk billing crisis, it has never been harder and more expensive to see a doctor. Australians are now paying 45 per cent more to see their GP, as bulk billing has collapsed from 88 per cent under the Coalition, to 77 per cent under Anthony Albanese.
“This has had a serious impact on Australians’ access to healthcare at a time when they can least afford it. Last financial year alone saw 40 million fewer bulk billed GP visits under Labor, in comparison to the Coalition’s last year in government.
“This crisis has forced 1.5 million Australians to avoid seeing a doctor in 2023-24, adding further demand to already under-pressure hospitals across the country.
“The Coalition recognises the urgent need for better access to bulk billed services in the middle of Labor’s healthcare crisis.
“That is why a Dutton Coalition Government will match the $8.5 billion investment into Medicare dollar-for-dollar to fix Labor’s mess and restore bulk billing back up to Coalition levels.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the Coalition welcomed the Government’s “decision to finally listen to our calls to address the health workforce crisis with a comprehensive package of training measures”.
“The Coalition led the way with our $400 million plan to grow a strong pipeline of homegrown GPs, which will provide junior doctors who choose to train as a GP in the community with financial incentives, assistance with leave entitlements and training support,
to help fill the shortages in our suburbs and regional areas,’’ she said.
“The Coalition supported the additional $1.7 billion in funding for the public hospital system, because we know that Labor’s primary care crisis is putting unprecedented
pressure on our hospitals. “
“The Coalition has a strong record on health. Without sound and prudent economic management – something Labor is incapable of – investments like this cannot be delivered.”
“Fixing Labor’s health care crisis and bulk billing crisis is all part of our plan to get our country back on track.”
Mr Dutton’s election promise came after what was expected to be the biggest announcement that the Prime Minister will make during the campaign, unequivocally a big hint he’s poised to call the election and dump plans to bring down a March 25 budget.
After announcing a $2 billion investment to save thousands of jobs associated with the Whyalla steelworks, marking the first interest rate cut in four years and a big-spending plan for Medicare, Mr Albanese is now tipped to call an election as early as next weekend for April 5 or 12.
Liberals announce they will back the new spending
The Coalition confirmed on Sunday they would match the new spending on Medicare, blunting Labor’s attempts to frame the next election around Peter Dutton’s record as health minister a decade ago.
“We’re not going to get in the way of Labor cleaning up the mess that it has made, and it’s important that that mess be cleaned up,” Liberal treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said.
“This is necessary because of Labor’s abject failure when it comes to health, what we have seen is a collapse in bulk billing rates.”
Sky News host Andrew Clennell said he was “shocked” on Sunday that the Liberals were backing the big-spending Medicare plan.
“I’m surprised. I mean, I thought the whole thing from you and Peter Dutton was fiscal restraints,’’ he said.
“Here they are splashing all this cash to try and get reelected, and you’re saying, ‘Yeah, well, we’re not going to send them away’.”
Neither side of politics has explained how they will fund the $8 billion spend-a-thon on Medicare.
What the GPs say about the bulk billing plan
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen praised the investment but immediately raised the prospect that not all GPs would be able to afford to bulk bill even if the government increases rebates.
“While bulk billing incentives will now be available for all patients, it is important for the public to understand that general practices will still need to set their fees based on an assessment of the costs they face in running a modern medical practice,’’ she said.
“In 2023 our analysis of the impact of that freeze, and years of inadequate indexation found close to $4 billion had been stripped from general practice, and it would be further compounded without reform and investment. The neglect of Medicare by successive governments means the patient rebate no longer bears any relationship to the actual cost of providing high quality services to patients.”
Dr McMullen said the government had taken the AMA’s calls for more investment in general practice very seriously, however more work was still needed to address ongoing issues in GP care.
But the political target of the Prime Minister’s big plan is unmistakably Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday, Health Minister Mark Butler understood the assignment.
“Peter Dutton in 2014 tried to abolish bulk billing altogether, and when he couldn’t do that, when the Senate blocked him, doctors opposed him,’’ Mr Butler said.
“Instead, what he set about doing was effectively strangling bulk billing slowly by freezing the Medicare rebate now to their credit, Australia, doctors hung on for as long as they possibly could after six years of having their income frozen while their costs continued to rise.
“But at some point, the thing broke, and we inherited a situation when we came to the government of bulk billing being in free fall. They’re not my words. They were the words of the GP’s College, bulk billing was in free fall. So I’m not going to take lectures on bulk billing from a guy who tried to abolish it. Peter Dutton tried to abolish it,” Mr Butler said.
Peter Dutton’s Medicare record
The Liberal leader famously tried to introduce a $7 co-payment during his time as health minister a decade ago during the Abbott Government, an idea that nearly blew up the government.
Accusing Liberal leader Mr Dutton of trying to end bulk billing with a GP tax, before starting a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates, the Prime Minister warned that the Liberals will cut Medicare again, if elected.
Way back in 2014 when Mr Dutton floated his GP co-payment plan it degenerated into a rolling crisis that led to ugly leaks in cabinet and ultimately weakened then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership before he was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership coup.
As more and more GPs charge a gap fee when you go to the doctors, some Australians don’t even know what bulk billing means anymore.
Bulk billing is when you don’t have to pay for your medical service from a health professional.
It means that the GP bills the government or Medicare instead. The GP then accepts the Medicare benefit as full payment for the service.
It’s when the GP argues that the Medicare benefit or fee from the government doesn’t cover all of their costs that they charge a gap fee. For example, if you have a standard consult at a GP that charges $92.85 cut the current Medicare rebate is only $42.85.
That means you face a $50 out of pocket fee. The idea with bulk billing is if the government increases the Medicare rebate to doctors you get the consultation for “free” with no out of pocket costs.
What the PM will announce on Medicare
The Prime Minister said the huge news of today’s announcement is the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation more than 40 years ago.
In an Australian first, a re-elected Albanese Government will pledge to support thousands of general practices to bulk bill every patient, with a new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program and will triple the bulk billing incentive for every Australian.
Under the plan, Labor will expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians from November 1 and a new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program will support practices that bulk bill all their patients.
GP surgeries that bulk bill all their patients will receive an additional 12.5% loading payment on their Medicare rebates.
“Labor built Medicare, we will protect it and improve it for all Australians,’’ Mr Albanese said.
“I want every Australian to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the healthcare they need.
“No Australian should have to check their bank balance to see if they can afford to see a doctor. That is not who we are. That is not the future we want for Australia.
“This is a policy that lifts up our entire nation and ensures no one is held back, and no one is left behind.”
Labor will also deliver more doctors and nurses into Medicare, with 400 nursing scholarships and the largest GP training program in Australian history, funding the training of 2,000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.
“It will make Medicare even stronger, help with cost of living pressures and ensure every Australian receives the best health care that they deserve,’’ Mr Albanese said.
“It will be open to every kind of practice, everywhere: from solo GPs in the smallest towns to the largest city clinic.
“It will mean an additional 18 million bulk billed GP visits each year and will see families save up to $859 million a year in out-of-pocket costs by 2030. This means 9 out of 10 GP visits will be bulk billed by 2030.”
Mediscare: the Labor Party’s golden charm
The term “Mediscare” has its origins in the 2016 election when Labor ran a highly successful campaign alleging the Coalition would privatise Medicare if elected.
Despite losing the election, the scare campaign was highly effective in slashing the Coalition’s majority to a wafer-thin margin.
In 2019, Labor under Bill Shorten tried it again with less success.
“This election is a referendum on the future of Medicare,” Mr Shorten declared at Labor’s official campaign launch.
Labor has been ramping up the scare campaign over Peter Dutton’s plans for Medicare in recent weeks.
Recently, Labor has been accused of reigniting its “Mediscare” campaign ahead of the federal election with a misleadingly edited attack ad.
In the edited video, Mr Dutton says Medicare is dead - which he did say in relation to the $7 co-payment unless reforms were implemented but the quote is cut short in a misleading manner.
“We’ve said and we’re very clear about this: Medicare is dead,” Mr Dutton says in the video.
“They can’t be for free. We have to pay for a world-class medical system.”
In his full quote, he explains the need for reforms to avoid the death of Medicare calling on the crossbench to support his reforms.
“We’re very clear about this. Medicare is dead if we can’t make it sustainable today,’’ he said.
“The Labor Party will kill Medicare by offering everything to everybody for free and the government is determined to make Medicare sustainable [and] strong, not just for today, these are plans that will set up Medicare for the next decade or two. So, the Labor Party can pretend to the Australian public that things are for free, they can’t be for free, we have to pay for a world-class medical system.”
Originally published as Albanese, Dutton in bidding war over ‘free’ GP visits
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