The July 2 election will be a final chance for West Australians to stop Malcolm Turnbull’s privatisation of Medicare.
Despite promising West Australians there would be no cuts to health, the Abbott-Turnbull Government has:
- Cut almost $1 billion from WA public hospitals over the next four years.
- Denied up to 280,000 WA children access to affordable dental care by abolishing Labor’s Child Dental Benefits Scheme.
- Hit WA patients with a backdoor GP Tax that will force down bulk billing and cost patients $14 every time they see a GP – twice as much as Tony Abbott’s original GP tax.
- Slashed payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging, forcing cancer patients and others with serious health conditions to pay for potentially lifesaving scans and tests.
- Committed to raising prescription prices by up to $5 for essential medicines.
Last week’s Budget has made clear there is no end in sight to Malcolm Turnbull’s health cuts, as the Liberals seek to privatise Medicare by cutting bulk billing and forcing patients to pay more.
Malcolm Turnbull’s health cuts will end universal access to healthcare, and create a two tiered health system where your credit card, not your Medicare card determines the quality of your healthcare.
Research by the University of Sydney’s Family Medicine Research Centre has revealed Malcolm Turnbull’s six year freeze on Medicare rebates will see WA patients paying an extra $14 every time they see a doctor, twice as much as Tony Abbott’s original GP Tax.
In his very first Budget Malcolm Turnbull also scrapped Labor’s Child Dental Benefits Scheme, denying up to 280,000 WA kids affordable dental care from the dentist of their choice, and forcing them onto long waiting lists. In WA, the average waiting time for public dental services is already over four months.
This attack on kids’ teeth comes just months after Malcolm Turnbull cut $650 million from Medicare rebates for pathology and diagnostic imaging, a move that could see WA patients being treated for cancer and other serious health conditions forced to fork out thousands of dollars upfront to pay for MRIs, X-Rays, CAT scans and mammograms.
Malcom Turnbull is also keeping Tony Abbott’s hike in prescription charges which will force West Australians to pay up to $5 extra for their essential medicines.
And all this comes on top of the massive cuts to WA hospitals which will lead to longer waiting times for elective surgery, and force patients to wait even longer for treatment in emergency departments.
Malcolm Turnbull has proven the Liberals will always look to make healthcare less affordable for those who need it most – the sick and the poor.
The difference between Labor and Liberal could not be starker – we will put people first, while Mr Turnbull and the Liberals will look after high income earners and multinationals.
Labor built Medicare, only Labor believes in Medicare, and only a vote for Labor on July 2 can stop Malcolm Turnbull from privatising Medicare and denying West Australians the right to decent, affordable healthcare.