The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the
Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, November 19th, 2003.
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Govt's Medicare package ROTTEN TO THE CORE
The Howard Government's latest Medicare package is a death sentence for
Medicare. Presented as helping the chronically ill and a means to
increase bulk-billing, it does neither. It is yet another lie, another
dishonest drive towards the destruction of Medicare and the
privatisation of health care in Australia. The package is aimed at
winning the Democrats over, and if possible the Labor Party. Urgent
action is required to make sure it is not supported by the ALP,
Democrats or Independents in the Senate.
by Anna Pha
Even the names given to the proposal, first "Fairer Medicare" and now
"Medicare Plus" are misleading. It would be more accurate to call it the
"Medicare Minus" or the "Medicare Destruction" package.
Under a genuine Medicare, with universal access and full bulk-billing,
no one needs to hand over a single cent, whereas under the Government's
plan, people holding concession cards and those on family tax benefits
will be refunded just 80 percent of medical expenses over and above a
total of $500 a year. Everyone else, including singles, will get the 80
percent after having to pay $1000 during the year.
"John Howard's plan to reimburse patients for 80% of out-of-pockets
costs is an unsustainable licence for doctors to print money", said Dr
Tim Woodruff, President of the Doctors' Reform Society.
"GPs are already charging ever increasing copayments averaging $13.64
but sometimes up to $100", said Dr Woodruff. "Specialists and Xrays can
cost $100-$200 a visit. When they know that 80% of that copayment is
covered by the Government, prices will rocket, and the Government's
Medicare will become unsustainable and will be abandoned."
The Government is setting it up to fail, so that it has the excuse to
make further cuts at a later date.
The main question, however, is not how much people pay, but the fact
that they will pay. There is a fundamental principle at stake. A
principle which goes to the essence of Medicare: universal access to
bulk-billing and the public health system at no out-of-pocket cost.
Abbott claims bulk-billing is "not the essence of Medicare". He is
wrong. He does not believe in Medicare. He only retains the name to hide
the Government's real intentions which are to destroy Medicare.
Bulk-billing was meant for everyone. Bulk-billing should be for
everyone. That is what the overwhelming majority of Australians want.
The genuine Medicare is not based on a user-pays philosophy. Once it
becomes user-pays it is no longer Medicare. The abandonment of that
principle lays the way open to further erosion of the system, including
the dismantling of its universality.
Once certain groups are denied access to bulk-billing on the basis of
some economic or social criteria, then it becomes a two-class system on
a slippery path towards the US for-profit system where millions of
people have no health care cover.
As for the $500 or $1000 "safety net", that is only the thin edge of the
wedge which will be used to get the user-pays system through the Senate
while trying to avoid too much flack from the public.
The user-pays principle can now be seen at work in our public
universities. When university fees were introduced less than 20 years
ago the fee was $256 per annum. Now, if the Howard Government gets its
higher education legislation through Parliament, students could be
facing bills and debts of $100,000.
Likewise with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS): when there was a
big hike in prices for prescription medicines, a safety net was
introduced which meant nobody was out of pocket by more than a few
dollars a week. Once the safety net was reached, scripts were at no cost
for the remainder of the year. Now, the safety net for a single person
is over $600 after which there is a payment of $3.70 or more per script.
Medicare, like the PBS, is funded centrally through the taxation system.
Patients are treated according to need without having to make any
further payment.
The Government is bit by bit eroding access and hitting patients with
upfront payments. It has not only discouraged doctors from bulk-billing
but made it virtually impossible for many of them to do so by refusing
to increase the rebate doctors receive for seeing patients. The latest
package gives doctors an extra $5 when they bulk-bill concession card
holders and children under 16. This would change little.
Pathology and X-ray departments have also introduced fees for many
patients who were previously bulk-billed. In addition, many optometrists
have also stopped bulk-billing.
As a result bulk-billing has fallen even further, to 67.4 per cent.
The media is also pushing the Government's destructive package as
benefiting people and retaining Medicare. For example, the Sydney
Morning Herald ran with the headline, "Trip to doctor cheaper for
millions". This is not true.
Act now
It is imperative that the public, who value their universal health care
system, let the Democrats, Independents, the ALP and Government know
that this latest attempt to destroy Medicare is not acceptable. And get
behind the Greens who have opposed the Government's moves.
Write, fax, phone or email your local Member, the Health Minister Tony
Abbott at Parliament House, your Senators and contact the Save Medicare
committees in your State to give your support.
The Democrats and independents, in particular, must be convinced that
the package is rotten to the core.
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