Lifting freeze on patient rebates should be first priority: AMA

During a doorstop press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on 21 July, AMA president Dr Michael Gannon said he would like to see the Federal Government starting to unravel the freeze on patient rebates for Medicare fees in coming months .Optometry Australia previously made a similar call in regard to fees for optometrical services provided under Medicare.The Federal Government said during the recent election campaign that it would not lift the freeze, despite the Opposition saying it would do so by 1 January 2017 if elected.Speaking to the press after a meeting with the newly-re-appointed Federal Minister for Health Ms Sussan Ley, Dr Gannon said the sooner the freeze was unravelled, the better. I would be gobsmacked if the Government took an ongoing freeze to the next election, he commented. They got the scare of their life on health, and that was probably the policy which hurt th the most. It makes general practice and a lot of other areas of medical practice potentially unviable if it’s not unravelled. So I look forward to continuing this relationship, continuing that discussion… We need to fix these [health] policies. It is true that the Government should try and find ways of balancing its books, but it’s not true to say that health spending is out of control. If we look at the area we’re most concerned about – primary care, general practice – it only makes up 6 per cent of health spending. Unravelling the freeze would be a great start, a good sign of good faith from the new Government. Dr Gannon stated that he would be looking for serious undertakings and a firm timeline from the Government for lifting the freeze.He added that the freeze threatened the ability of general practice to bulk bill vulnerable mbers of the community. We want to protect universal healthcare so that those who can afford to pay do make a contribution to their healthcare, but we must keep protections for the neediest in our community. Step one is unravelling the freeze, Dr Gannon said.