Tasmanian doctors are calling on the Federal Government to rule out introducing tax on healthcare services if the GST is broadened.

On a state level, both major parties and the Greens have also voiced their opposition to any change that would see health services taxed.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said this week health was originally excluded from the GST for “very practical reasons” and “those practical issues remain as challenging as they were back then”.

Tasmanian GP and immediate past president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) Dennis Pashen said taxing health services would make it even harder for vulnerable people to afford care.

“Pre-emptively we’re saying to the Government, ‘Reconsider the GST if you have to, but for Pete’s sake leave health care out of the GST,” he said.

Dr Pashen said people in rural areas died younger and were sicker than people in metropolitan areas.

He said one-third of Tasmanians lived rurally and struggled to access services.

“There’s significant barriers to access to care,” he said.

“There’s a downturn in the rural sector in Tasmania, with losses in forestry, mining and agricultural industry in Tasmania that have social impacts,” he said.

“So anything that pushes up the cost of health care within a rural area will impact on access to care.”

He said if access to health care became more expensive, people would not seek primary intervention and they would get sicker and the cost of treating them would rise.

“It does impact downstream by causing more complications of chronic disease, more hospital admissions with more severe levels of illness,” he said.