The businessman who chaired the Coalition’s 2013 Commission of Audit says the Opposition’s claims that the Government plans to privatise Medicare are a “gross misrepresentation”.
Key points:
- Tony Shepherd says outsourcing of backroom functions is normal.
- He says Medicare payments system is clunky and needs upgrade.
- Tony Shepherd says budget is “out of control”.
Labor has continued to accuse the Government of having a secret plan to privatise Medicare’s payments system, forcing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to emphatically rule out any outsourcing of Medicare’s functions.
In his 2013 report, Tony Shepherd recommended that the Government outsource its whole system of payments, including Medicare’s.
But he told Lateline that outsourcing the upgrade of the “clunky”, 25-year-old system is not privatisation.
“I think that is a gross misrepresentation. I think that is really stretching it, I mean governments outsource a lot of their operations in that back office space already. It’s not privatisation,” he said.
“Outsourcing operations of government with the government retaining 100 per cent control is not privatisation, that’s just a bit more efficient method of delivery.”
Mr Shepherd said the payments system desperately needed an upgrade.
“It has to be rebuilt. There is no doubt about that.”
He told Lateline consumers would suffer if the system was not rebuilt.
“Who suffers in this is actually the consumer because the system is old and clunky and takes time and makes mistakes because we get a bit of fraud on the side as well,” he said.
Mr Shepherd also said it was disappointing that the Government was not pursuing the introduction of a Medicare co-payment.
“The bottom line is our budget is out of control. With an aging population, incredibly increasing aged costs, health costs, aged care costs, aged pension costs, NDIS, we cannot afford everything we’ve got on the table,” he said.
“We’re in deficit as a result of that and we’re borrowing money now to meet these new payments, leaving a debt to our children and grandchildren. Grossly unfair. So we have to do something.
“I think a modest co-payment for people who can afford it, I think is a sensible thing.”
