The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) calls on the Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Sussan Ley to honour her commitment to lifting the freeze on Medicare patient rebates immediately, as it has emerged the Federal Government spent substantially less on Medicare than forecast.
The Final Budget Outcome 2015-16 confirms there was a $177 million underspend in medical services and benefits for the 2015-16 financial year.
RACGP President Dr Bastian Seidel said the underspend in medical services and benefits for the 2015-16 financial year represents the opportunity to lift the freeze now for GP patient rebates, which will only require less than $150 million per annum.
“The Federal Health Minister has maintained that the freeze on GP patient rebates would be lifted if funding was available. Now there is the perfect opportunity to honour that commitment by lifting the unfair freeze now,” he said.
“General practice has been hit the hardest by the Medicare patient rebate freeze. In 2015 the nation’s GPs saw 85 per cent of Australia’s population providing 140 million patient services at a fraction of the cost of far more expensive hospital care.
“General practice has been unfairly targeted by the Medicare patient rebate freeze. As a consequence we have seen patient out of pocket fees and co-payments increasing since the last Federal Budget. We now know that there never was a financial rationale to subject general practice to the Medicare freeze in the first place. Consequently the freeze needs to be lifted now.
“In order to find solutions for developing a sustainable healthcare system we urge the Federal Government to work closely with the RACGP as the peak body for general practice in Australia.
“The final 2015-16 budget clearly indicates the extension until 2020 is not necessary for budget purposes and will impact the people who can afford it the least - ordinary Australians who have to see their GP.”
The RACGP Vision for general practice and a sustainable healthcare system was released in September 2015. The Vision sets the tone for delivering more efficient and sustainable healthcare.
View the 2015-16 Final Budget Outcome