A Gold Coast MP says other options will have to be considered to make Medicare sustainable after the proposed GP co-payment was scrapped.
The Government has dumped the controversial proposal for a $5 fee to visit the doctor.
The federal Member for McPherson, Karen Andrews, said there would be consultation with the medical community before any new legislation was announced.
“The Health Minister is continuing her consultation to look at what other options there are for us to make Medicare sustainable into the future but it is clear the co-payment is off the table,” she said.
She said the legislation should have been handled differently.
“We should have gone out and consulted very widely, very publicly before this proposal was introduced,” she said.
“We’ve all learnt from that and I think that everyone recognises while changes need to be made, they need to be made in a sensible way going forward.”
The Gold Coast Medical Association vice-president, Dr Stephen Withers, said he expected more appropriate legislation would eventually take its place.
“There is an escalating health care cost and it’s a matter of how do we best deal with that and that’s going to be really a challenge that every Australian needs to take on board,” he said.
“How are we actually going to deal with all these increased costs?
“How can we provide some of the great services we’ve provided in the past?”
He said it was important both the public and medical professionals were consulted before the Government proposed new legislation.
“The way this was put together it created this problem of, well what else is to follow?” he said.
“I think people were very concerned that this might start as something simple and become something that was far more complex and more costly.”