HEALTH Minister Sussan Ley has declared the government’s contentious Medicare co-payment “dead” and says the coalition has no plans to means test bulk billing in its place.
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says the GP charge was “dead, buried and cremated”, leaving patients in the dark about what will replace the controversial measure.
But Labor is claiming the government still has plans to increase costs to see the doctor, after Ms Ley said she still thought it was good policy to have a “price signal” in place. Despite announcing the co-payment had been scrapped, on Tuesday she said non-concessional patients should be paying more towards the cost of a GP visit. But speaking to ABC radio, Ms Ley echoed the prime minister’s by saying the $5 fee was “dead”. “I’ve acted in good faith, and taken that off the table,” she said. Ms Ley dismissed fears the government may means test GP visits, to force some to pay more for their healthcare. “What I’m looking at is system-wide approaches that give doctors the flexibility to make the fee setting arrangements that work in their practice, and yes, reduce the number of bulk billed consultations to people who can afford to pay something,” she said. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten doesn’t believe a co-payment had been permanently scrapped, saying the health minister still stood behind the intent of the policy. “She says there’s a lot of people who attend a doctor who pay nothing and can afford to pay a bit more,” he told reporters in Canberra. “They want to increase the cost of going to the doctor.”