Medicare rebate freeze appears set to stay

The future of the freeze seed to be determined after the Federal Election vote count on 10 July showed the Liberal-National Government had secured sufficient seats in the House of Representatives to potentially form a minority government.Both Optometry Australia and the Australian Medical Association have pressed for roval of the freeze, which is currently scheduled to last to 2020.There are still a handful of seats to be determined before the final number of seats for the government, opposition and independents in the House of Representatives will become known.The outcome for the Senate is also unknown at present and is expected to take at least a week to come to light due to the complexity of its voting syst and the very wide range of candidates seeking election.During the election campaign, the Labor Party said it would lift the freeze if elected, however the Liberal Party said it would not do the same.The freeze was introduced by the then Labor Government, initially for four years and starting in July 2014, and was further extended by the coalition in the May 2014 Federal Budget to 2020.It was estimated the freeze extension would save $2.8 billion from the health bill over the additional six years.