The Labor Party has announced it plans to cease the Federal Government’s Medicare patient rebate indexation freeze.
If elected, Labor has vowed to reinstall Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) indexation by January 1, 2017.
Labor’s announcement was supported by the Rural Doctors of Association of Australia(RDAA)’s #GetRealonRural! 2016 Election Platform campaign to provide more funding and resources to rural healthcare.
RDAA President Dr Ewen McPhee said the reinstallation of the MBS indexation would provide relief to people in need of healthcare in rural and regional areas.
“There’s still much more to be done to improve access to primary care in the bush, and ensure the survival of rural medical practices and other rural healthcare services, but this is a great start,” he said.
“It is restoring the Medicare status quo - that is, returning Medicare to how it should work - and although there still remains a significant Medicare underspend in the bush when compared with urban Australia, it is a step in the right direction, and at an individual rural patient level, it will make a significant difference.”
Dr McPhee said Labor’s commitment to restoring indexation would help make primary care more affordable, reducing the need for hospital care due to delayed treatment and leading to savings for the health budget.
Dr McPhee said the Medicare freeze had significantly affected rural patients, particularly unemployed or low-income earners suffering poor health and multiple chronic conditions.
Dr McPhee said the Liberal Government’s indexation freeze has impacted the access to local medical services.
“The Medicare freeze has also been threatening the viability of more and more small rural and remote medical practices that, while marginal in financial terms, provide a significant service to their communities,” he said.
“The Coalition’s extension of the Medicare freeze, both in previous years and recently for another two years, has brought numerous practices to the brink of closure and is now leading to some practices having to close permanently.
“Many rural and remote practices have been forced to absorb the growing costs of providing health services.
“They have not been able to increase their consultation fees given their patients cannot afford to pay for increased fees while also receiving lower actual Medicare patient rebates.”
