Scare campaign could hamper attempts to boost Medicare’s efficiency

IF YOU took a glance at the election, you might be scared about Medicare’s future. The fight to preserve it could hasten its decline.

Labor has made protecting universal healthcare a centrepiece of its election campaign. Picture: iStock

IT’S Labor’s big hope for victory on July 2, a campaign based on the claim the Liberals want to sell off one of our public policy ornaments — Medicare.

And it’s as scary as political scare campaigns can get with family health care the ultimate provision at risk.

But like most election scare campaigns, there is limited evidence it is valid. In fact, Labor has no hard evidence to support it.

But the real problem with Labor’s fearmongering on Medicare is that it could do more harm to the system than good.

HOW PROTECTING MEDICARE COULD HELP KILL IT

Labor’s fight to preserve the purity of Medicare could hasten its decline.

The looming unintended consequence of this election campaign is no government will have the political gumption to improve the universal health scheme.

That could mean its operational efficiency could go down, its cost could go up, and its sustainability — its life as a government program — could be stunted.

And in the next few years, key aspects of Medicare’s optimal function — including its IT system — will have to be upgraded with one of the most attractive options being private enterprise involvement.

Bill Shorten used the Labor Party's official campaign launch to cast the July 2 election as a referendum on the future of Australia's universal health care system. Picture: AP Photo/Rob Griffith

IS MEDICARE REALLY ABOUT TO BE SOLD OFF?

Labor leader Bill Shorten is urging that the July 2 election become a referendum on Medicare, which he says Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull wants to privatise.

There is no hard evidence Mr Turnbull wants to do this, and he has denied any plan over the recent days of Labor’s intensified attack.

“What the Labor Party has done is run an extraordinarily dishonest scare campaign,” Mr Turnbull told reporters today.

“They have been ringing older Australians in the evening frightening them and saying ‘Medicare is going to be sold off, Medicare will be privatised’.
“This is the biggest lie of the campaign.

“Medicare will never be privatised. It is a core government service. It will never be sold.”

Treasurer Scott Morrison took the denial further: “All this election is about now, apparently, is the issue of Medicare, which the government is not going to change. And the Prime Minister has made that absolutely crystal clear.

“So we have the Labor Party trying to sell a big lie at this campaign.”

Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed Labor’s comments as a ‘extraordinarily dishonest scare campaign’. Picture: Jason Edwards

ANATOMY OF A SCARE CAMPAIGN

A scare campaign ceases to be a scare campaign when facts are involved, and Labor is having trouble rounding up those facts.

Its privatisation accusation is based on a brief given to the Productivity Commission to “undertake an inquiry into Australia’s human services, including health, education, and community services, with a focus on innovative ways to improve outcomes through introducing the principles of competition and informed user choice while maintaining or improving quality of service”.

It was an inquiry into the huge system of government payments — not just Medicare — and privatisation of some sections was an option.

However, it was an option the government took out of the brief. At no point was the service itself to be sold off.

A patients’ advocate, the Consumers’ Health Forum, has concerns about Liberal policy on the Medicare rebate freezes, but makes no mention of a Medicare sell-off.

“Labor’s health policy is protecting a central principle of Medicare — that is universal access to medical attention based on need rather than ability to pay,” forum chief executive officer Leanne Wells said.

LABOR FLIRTED WITH OUTSOURCING TOO

A problem for Labor is it also considered outsourcing some aspects of Medicare.

Shadow health minister Catherine King was asked today whether a Labor government would stand by a policy advocated by shadow treasurer Chris Bowen for a joint operation with private companies to improve Medicare’s IT operation.

“The IT system is going to have to be modernised at some point,” Ms King said on ABC radio’s AM program.

“We know that it is working now, it has served us well for a long period of time. It will need to be looked at, we understand, in four to five years’ time.

“Certainly we’ll have to look at IT solutions but absolutely under no circumstances would you flog it off and basically say, as they’ve done with the new national cancer registry, give that $200-plus million contract, give that to a private company to go and run it.”

The Consumers’ Health Forum does have concerns about the Liberal policy on Medicare rebate freezes. Picture: iStock

When in doubt, Labor has made the issue a question of trust.

“I mean frankly they have been lying about health from day one and they are lying now,” Ms King said.

“Certainly we’ve heard Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals say a whole lot of things about health before that have all now proven to be true.

“We had no cuts to health before the last election … I think I was accused of running a scare campaign before the Griffith by-election and the WA Senate re-election on GP tax. They were never, ever going to do that.

“They tried to convince us they hadn’t cut funding to hospitals and then had to go and put all that back in. It’s pretty hard to believe anything, I have to say.”

The Coalition has attempted its counter scare campaign, pointing to Labor cuts to Medicare.

“Don’t just look at Labor’s record of $6 billion cuts to Medicare and medicines for proof. Look at the fact Bill Shorten has no way to pay for Labor’s Medicare promises,” Health Minister Sussan Ley said.

“And what Labor cannot pay for, it cannot deliver.”

You will see more of this in the final weeks of a tight election campaign.