Mark Butler, Anne Ruston debate merits of Labor’s Medicare policy

Was it used as a political football or is Labor’s Medicare policy the solution to a cost of living crisis? Have your say.

Health minister Mark Butler and Senator Anne Ruston at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

At the last election, Australia faced the clearest possible choice.

Federal health minister

At the last election, Australia faced the clearest possible choice.

On the one hand, a stronger Medicare under Labor.

And on the other, more cuts to Medicare under Peter Dutton.

Over 40 years ago, the Labor Party introduced Medicare with the promise of making health care “cheaper, simpler and fairer”.

And bulk billing was the beating heart of that promise, because what could be

cheaper or simpler or fairer than the idea that every Australian, no matter where they

lived, no matter what their means, could see their doctor for free.

This idea was fought tooth and nail at the time by the Liberal Party and doctor

lobbyist groups.

But Labor was prepared to fight and for 41 years we’ve kept up the fight for bulk

billing as absolutely central to our promise on Medicare.

When we came to government almost three years ago, bulk billing was in free fall.

A free fall directly caused by former Health Minister Peter Dutton’s Medicare freeze.

Now, at this upcoming election we have the opportunity to right his wrongs.

A re-elected Albanese Government will make the single largest investment in

Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago.

Mark Butler says Labor introduced Medicare more than 40 years ago. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

An $8.5 billion to deliver an additional 18 million bulk billed GP visits each year

meaning more Australians living in Geelong and on the Surf Coast will be bulk billed.

Under Labor, local patients and families will save hundreds of dollars a year in GP

out-of-pocket costs.

Helping with cost-of-living pressures while making Medicare even stronger.

For the first time, we will also create an additional new incentive payment for general

practices to bulk bill every single patient.

This will support local bulk billing practices to provide the highest quality care: to

grow their teams, upgrade their facilities and expand their services.

This will triple the number of fully bulk billed practices and will mean 9 out of 10 GP

visits will be bulk billed by 2030.

But we’re not stopping there.

We know we need more doctors and nurses to deliver a stronger Medicare.

Labor will deliver the largest GP training program in Australian history, funding the

training of 2,000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.

To deliver even more healthcare for our communities, we will also create 400

scholarships for nurses to extend their skills.

Building on our historic investment in Medicare we will also expand the availability of

free, urgent care, by opening a further 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the

country.

Our 87 clinics open now are providing free urgent care for Australian communities

including right here in Belmont, Geelong.

It’s open extended hours, 7 days a week and importantly it’s fully bulk billed.

Meaning all patients need is their Medicare card, not their credit card.

Since we opened the doors of the Geelong Urgent Care Clinic 24,000 people have

received the free urgent care they need.

And if re-elected Labor will open another Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Torquay,

serving the Surf Coast.

You can’t trust Peter Dutton and the Liberals with Medicare.

Peter Dutton, said there would be “no cuts to health” just months before he tried to

abolish bulk billing altogether and cut $50 billion from our public hospitals.

Labor will never stop fighting to strengthen the beating heart of Medicare: bulk billing.

Labor built Medicare, and only Labor will protect it and strengthen it for all

Australians.

At this election, Australia faces the clearest possible choice.

Let’s choose to strengthen Medicare.

Mark Butler and Anne Ruston at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

Anne Ruston

Senator and opposition health spokeswoman

Australians are rightly proud of Medicare.

Medicare is the centrepiece of our primary care system, and it is grounded in the

belief that no matter who you are and where in Australia you live, you should be able

to access affordable, quality healthcare.

It is this universality that makes Australia’s health system the envy of the world.

We all want to see this protected and strengthened into the future – Regardless of

the lies that Anthony Albanese has been telling throughout this campaign.

That is why it has been so disappointing to see Medicare used as a political tool by

the Prime Minister.

This is a disgraceful misuse of our healthcare system – Which exists for the benefit of

the Australian people, not the Labor Party.

When Australian families watch Anthony Albanese holding up his Medicare card and

proclaiming “you can see a GP for free,” they know that this is not their experience

on the ground.

They are living with the consequences of a health system that is under real pressure.

The facts tell us that it has never been harder or more expensive for Australian

families to see a doctor than it is right now.

Health has become another victim of Labor’s cost of living crisis.

 Australians are struggling to book an appointment with a GP and when they finally

get one, they are hit with the biggest bill they have ever seen.

Across the country, Australians were bulk billed 40 million fewer times last year than

they were before Labor came to power.

GP bulk billing has fallen 11% under Anthony Albanese, from more than 88% under

the Coalition, to 77% right now.

Anne Ruston says Medicare has been used as a political football. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Bulk billing is at the lowest level it has ever been in the last decade.

For the people of Geelong, it has fallen by more than the national average at a drop

of 12.9% in the last three years.

This is data straight from Australia’s national health accounts.

At the same time, out-of-pocket have reached the highest level on record 

Australians are now paying 45% more of the cost to see a GP out of their own

pocket — Using their credit card, along with their Medicare card.

This forced more than 1.5 million Australians to avoid going to the doctor last year

because they simply could not afford it.

That is a choice no Australian family should be faced with.

So, instead of strengthening Medicare as Labor promised before the last election,

Medicare has only been weakened.

But instead of admitting to Australians that they have failed, the Albanese Labor

Government has resorted to lies and scare tactics.

I think it is disgraceful that we have a Prime Minister willing to lie to Australians about

something as important as their access to healthcare.

This should be above desperate political games.

The Coalition has a positive plan to deliver affordable, quality healthcare.

We will increase investment into Medicare, as we always have and always will.

Our $9.4 billion commitment towards our primary healthcare system is aimed at

restoring bulk billing, addressing the health workforce shortage, and ensuring

Australians have affordable access to the mental health support they deserve.

This includes our commitments to double Medicare mental health sessions, boost

headspace centres across the country, and deliver a world-leading focus on youth

mental health.

We will restore mental health and suicide prevention as a national priority.

We will also prioritise workforce, because we understand that no policy can be

achieved without the workforce to deliver it. It was Peter Dutton who took the lead a

year ago by announcing our plan to incentivise junior doctors to train as a GP in the

community, helping to fill the shortages in our suburbs and regional areas.

We will deliver Urgent Care Clinics as they were intended – focused on taking

pressure off local hospitals and providing real access to bulk billed urgent primary

healthcare.

Importantly, we won't forget Australians in the bush, with an additional $100 million

investment specially directed at supporting healthcare access in regional, rural and

remote areas.

While Labor is focused on lying to Australians, we are focused on ensuring all

Australians have timely and affordable access to healthcare, no matter where they

live.

Originally published as Mark Butler, Anne Ruston debate merits of Labor’s Medicare policy