What you said about $8.5bn Medicare investment announcement

The $8.5bn Medicare pledge to increase GP bulk-billing was a bold bid to win over voters - even adopted by the Opposition. But not everyone is onboard. HAVE YOUR SAY

With this year’s federal election approaching, it’s clear that Anthony Albanese has made a bold bid to persuade voters to back his re-election after his government announced $8.5bn in investment in Medicare - the single largest contribution since his party created the policy four decades ago.

Along with big spends in training Australian GPs, the Albanese government is promising to triple the bulk-billing incentive and give a 12.5 per cent bonus to GPs who use bulk-billing. Peter Dutton has since matched the free GP pledge.

Since the announcement, debate has raged online with some hailing the policy as the cost-of-living relief that we’ve all been waiting for while others warn that the policy isn’t costed, or is flatout not feasible.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

How are we going to pay for it?

Siskokid

Didn’t labor announce that they were going to introduce more doctors and medical centres at the last election, mmmm what happened to that?

NiceGuy

OMG. Why not just send the country broke with handouts … Free.. Free, Bribe, Bribe… Guess who pays for it all? You the taxpayer in huge cost of living rises.

Joey

Liar where’s this money coming from. We are still waiting for the promised housing and GP clinics from last election, he cannot be trusted.

Shoo

$8.5b of taxpayer’s money. And this money needs to come from somewhere. Either higher taxes, or cuts to infrastructure and services, or both.

Albo’s a good economic manager

Glenn

Great policy by Labor and it will reverse the trend of falling bulk-billing directly caused by the LNP 9-year freeze on Medicare rebates. Even the AMA had directly called out the LNP as the cause of falling bulk-billing rates.

Wallace

Can’t believe people here are getting so wound up about seeing the doctor for free. This is what you pay your 2% for! Good work Albo, that will help us all. Keep up the good work.

Constantine

The cost-of-living benefits of a Labor Government that has delivered two surpluses, to the Liberal’s none .... and slashed the Liberals $870 Billion debt to $540 Billion. Labor has free GP visits .... Liberals demand you pay a GP tax. Labor takes Women’s Health seriously with serious money & resources .... Liberals pretend Women’s Health doesn’t exist. Dutton will (if given the chance) again cut, tax and destroy Medicare ..... Dutton’s following suit…

Peter Dutton followed Anthony Albanese’s pledge to invest in Medicare to drive more bulk-billing.

Can’t trust Dutton

Helen

Let’s be clear, Labor believes in Medicare. The LNP never have and never will.

Paul

Inflation down. Wages are up. Unemployment is very low. Have reduced the Liberal debt down by more than 170 billion ….and now interest rates have started to be cut as well. Great economic managers are the Labor Party FACT not spin.

rick

Compared to Dutton’s nuclear fantasy this is a drop in the ocean! The nuclear fantasy which will never see the light of day, would cost 10 times as much as what the PM has committed to Medicare. Plus the nuclear fantasy would be lucky to happen before 2050-2060. But as Matt Canavan said, Dutton’s not serious about it anyway.

Brenton

Now a lot of commenters on here are going to have to change their tune! There’s a lot of humble pie to be eaten! Pal Dutton has copied and matched labor’s Medicare promise and raised it by a lazy 500 million! Now explain to me again about buying votes is a Labor trait.

Peter

I just heard on the ABCs Insiders that the Opposition will not be standing in the way of this reform. Looks Peter Dutton knows a vote winner, when he sees one.

It’s just not possible!

John

As a Liberal and Conservative voter, I’m all on board with additional Medicare funding. The only problem with this is the number of GPs required. The announcement says the ALP is targeting 2000 additional GPs every year until 2028 (so that’s 8000 new GPs in total). Do we have enough positions in existing universities to train this many GPs? Or are we importing doctors from overseas? And what about the fact that many GPs are quite old and ready to retire - how do we replace those GPs? And if we’re going to entice doctors away from careers as specialists, how do we train enough medical practitioners to replace those individuals as specialists? Not a bad idea but it’s like Albo’s 1.2m new houses in 5 years - no chance of being achieved.

Dave

How long does it take to become a doctor in Australia? Adding up the 3–4 years of undergraduate study, 4–6 years of Doctor of Medicine degree, 1 year of internship, 2–3 years of residency, and 3–7 years of specialisation gives a range of 13-21 years to become a specialised doctor in Australia. So how will Albo magically get 2000 new GPs a year?

Michael

So they want 2000 doctors every year up to 2028 yet it takes 6 years of university to become one. The government that wanted the misinformation bill brought in is all misinformation themselves.

Originally published as What you said about $8.5bn Medicare investment announcement