Anthony Albanese to unveil major Medicare plan

Anthony Albanese is gearing up to unveil major changes to Medicare, with the Labor leader vowing he’ll make it easier for Australians see the doctor.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is preparing to unveil a major election commitment to make it easier for Australians to see the doctor.

The Herald Sun can reveal a key plank of the opposition’s cost of living pitch will be changes to Medicare to help tackle health costs and respond to wait times for care.

Labor is already running a social media campaign claiming they will be “strengthening Medicare” if elected in May.

“I’ll make it easier to see the doctor,” Mr Albanese tells voters in the advertisement.

Labor sources said the details of the policy were being finalised and could be unveiled within days, although Mr Albanese’s budget reply on Thursday night is expected to focus more on aged care.

Speaking on Monday, the Labor leader said he would have “more to say about Medicare and healthcare during the election campaign”.

Opposition Anthony Albanese wants to make it easier for Australians to see a doctor. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“What we have is the principle, very clearly, which is that healthcare should be given on the basis of need, not on the basis of whether you can afford it or not,” Mr Albanese said.

“The problem with the government’s approach is that it excluded people from access to rapid antigen tests on the basis that they couldn’t afford one.”

The Herald Sun revealed earlier this month that Labor was moving to fix the GP shortage in Frankston by making the region a priority area for doctors, enabling local clinics to attract medicos with new perks.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid on Wednesday blasted the government’s failure to boost the nation’s health system in this week’s budget.

“Any Australian who is waiting on a public hospital waiting list, including the 200,000 extra that have arrived in the last couple of years during the pandemic, this budget will provide absolutely no relief,” Dr Khorshid said.

“The Medicare and hospital funding in (the budget) amounts to little more than usual recurrent spending and planned growth, not the new injection of funds our health system desperately needs.”

But he said it remained unclear whether Labor would have a stronger health policy.

“At the moment we don’t have a clear view as to which party is going to be the true friend of Medicare,” he said.

“Neither can claim that ground at the moment — both have frozen Medicare in the past, both have underfunded indexation of Medicare, both have presided over a public hospital funding system that doesn’t meet the needs of Australians.”

“The next government will need to act. The major parties are on notice — we will be pushing this case all the way to polling day because Australians are clearly saying they want a focus on healthcare, and they expect a health system which is able to meet their family and community’s needs.”

The government moved in the budget to shift the medicines safety net to provide greater access to free scripts.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese to unveil major Medicare plan