Hockey’s bulk-billing claim misses the mark

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Treasurer Joe Hockey’s claims that his wealthy constituents enjoyed some of the highest bulk-billing rates in the country are looking a little washed out.

Mr Hockey said last week the cost of Medicare is growing at twice the speed of the economy and that co-payments are ”certainly something that is in the mix” for the budget.

”Now I want to emphasise my electorate of North Sydney has one of the highest bulk-billing rates in Australia and I have one of the wealthiest electorates in Australia,” Mr Hockey told ABC radio. ”To me there is something wrong with that.”

In fact, Mr Hockey’s electorate had Sydney’s fifth-lowest bulk-billing rate, 70 per cent, according to 2010-2011 Department of Health data, the most recent available. This is belowthe national average.

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A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey declined to provide any data to support the Treasurer’s comments, saying only: ”The electorate has a high rate of bulk-billing for affluent areas.”

The government’s expenditure review committee has reportedly approved a $6 co-payment, capped at 12 GP visits, meaning patients would pay a maximum of $72 extra each a year. The Medicare fee push is based on a proposal by former Howard government adviser Terry Barnes, who estimated the fee would save the budget $750 million over four years by reducing unnecessary GP visits.

Health groups have attacked the GP co-payment idea, warning it will hit the poor and sick hardest and place additional pressure on already stretched emergency departments.

”We know that $6 is enough for people to make decisions and defer treatment,” Australian Medical Association president Steve Hambleton said.

”Yes some discretionary visits will disappear, but some important visits will disappear as well.”

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald