Psychiatrists’ peak body urges non-government senators to hold firm in opposition to co-payment
The most seriously ill mental health patients would suffer “disastrous” consequences if the government introduces the controversial $7 co-payment scheme, the peak body representing Australian psychiatrists says.
In a report released on Thursday, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists urges non-government senators to hold firm in their opposition to the payment.
“Unless the relevant budget measures are significantly modified, or appropriate compensatory mechanisms are implemented, the barriers to people with mental illnesses accessing high-quality, timely and preventive care are likely to increase,” the report says.
“Overall, this will increase the burden of mental illness on the Australian community.”
The Labor opposition claims the government may be about to bypass parliament and push the Medicare co-payment scheme through anyway.
The college president, Dr Murray Patton, said that if that happened, an already stretched mental health care sector would be in a much worse position.
“We already know that many people with mental illness struggle to get the care they need,” Patton said.
“We are concerned about the effects of these budget measures on people with serious mental illness, particularly those who also have physical illness. In particular we are concerned that the impact of the pathology co-payment has not been thoroughly considered.”
A number of treatments for serious mental illness can cause side effects that cause metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, with regular pathology testing the best way to detect and treat these illnesses.
Under the co-payment, every test would cost an additional $7.
People with serious mental illness live between 10 and 32 years less than the general Australian population, and patients already have to pay up to 40% more than Medicare will reimburse them for private psychologist and psychiatrist visits.
The president of the Consumers Health Forum, Adam Stankevicius, said it was not just the co-payment that would affect those with poor mental health.
They also faced a rise in the cost of medicines, tougher barriers to disability support, higher doctor charges additional to the co-payment and reduced support services because of funding cuts, he said.
“The psychiatrists’ report is the latest in a pile of reports demonstrating the counter-productive impact of the proposed co-payment, and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme $5 co-payment rise to $40 a script,” he said.
He urged the government not to push through the payment behind closed doors.
“The government refuses to deny that it may force through the co-payment by regulation if it can’t achieve its troubled plan by democratic means, i.e., parliament,” Stankevicius said.
“We urge the government to think again before it takes actions that will hit the chronically ill and struggling families.”