Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton says the Government will not negotiate on its plan to charge a $7 co-payment for visiting the doctor.
Mr Dutton says the majority of money raised will go towards a $20 billion medical research future fund.
The Greens and Labor have already signalled they will vote against the measure, meaning the Government will have to wait until the Senate changes over to negotiate with the crossbenchers.
Mr Dutton says the Government is not willing to budge on the co-payment plan, and there is no other way to raise the medical funds.
“People should understand that if they don’t want to put money into medical research then they can go down the obstructionist path of Labor and the Greens,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s an option to be honest and I think we need to be realistic.”
Mr Dutton says the co-payment is necessary to make Medicare sustainable, and drew comparisons to New Zealand’s medical system, where people pay a $17 co-payment.
They have similar health outcomes and Labor may pretend that you can give services away for free but if you want to be a true friend to Medicare and you want to strengthen and modernise Medicare, you need to make sure that the structure reforms are put in place to provide for an ageing population,” he said.
“We have one of the best health systems in the world but we have to recognise that for a population of 23 million people we provide 263 million free services a year.
“We need to make sure that with an aging population, with genomics testing coming, with personalised medicines for rare diseases and cancers, with all of the medical technology costs, the diseases of the brain presenting in dementia and research, we have to make sure that we have the money in the budget.”
Abbott questions Labor over Hawke-era co-payment
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has echoed Mr Dutton’s refusal to negotiate over the co-payment, saying Labor are being hypocritical in their criticism.
“How can it be alright to have a PBS co-payment, how can it be alright to pay a few dollars when you get your script filled at the pharmacist, and not alright to pay a few dollars when you go to visit the GP?
“How can it be unconscionable for this Coalition government to propose a co-payment and not be unconscionable for the Hawke Government when it actually implemented a co-payment back in the 1990s?”
Mr Abbott says he is confident the Government will be able to get its controversial budget plans through the Senate and he expects “responsible” crossbench MPs to work with the Government.
“We are confident that one way or another we will be able to negotiate the various budget measures through the Senate … that’s what good governments do, they focus on governing.”
Dutton admits to tax hike
Meanwhile, Mr Dutton has conceded that one of the Government’s self-described budget savings is technically a tax hike.
The Government plans to freeze the income thresholds for the Medicare Levy Surcharge over the next three years and invest the savings in the same medical research funds the GP co-payments are going towards.
The change would result in more people without private health cover paying the surcharge over time.
Mr Dutton admits the so-called savings would actually come from increased taxes on those people.
“Well you can describe it as you will and that’s fine, I don’t have any problem with that,” he said.
“My suggestion to you is this: we are growing the health expenditure every year in this country, but we must do it at a sustainable rate.”
Audio: Dutton defends introduction of doctor visit fee
Source: ABC