Tony Abbott’s GP Tax is a cruel broken promise that will hurt vulnerable Australians.
Despite health experts across the country advising against a GP Tax, the Abbott Government is determined to make patients pay for his broken promise.
With his first Federal Budget Tony Abbott has performed the greatest attack on Medicare and universal healthcare that our nation has seen in 40 years.
Tony Abbott told the Australian people before the election:
‘We will be a no surprises, no excuses government’.
Tony Abbott promised the Australian people:
‘We are about reducing taxes, not increasing taxes. We are about getting rid of taxes, not imposing new taxes’.
Tony Abbott has broken his promise that there will be no new taxes with a $7 GP Tax. A tax that will cost Australian families $3.5 billion in out of pocket costs. A hit on the most vulnerable Australians.
In addition to imposing a new tax on doctor visits Tony Abbott will make the Medicare Safety Net less fair, cutting $270 million from the provision existing arrangements and transferring those costs onto Australian families.
The $7 tax on doctor visits hits everyone – pensioners, parents, unemployed, low income earners, people with a disability, even veterans. And for the first time, pensioners and concessional patients will be charged for pathology and imaging services out of hospital.
This GP Tax is only the beginning. It opens the doors for Tony Abbott to smash Medicare one piece at a time.
On the one hand the government is penalising doctors, many of whom have made a decision to solely bulk bill, whilst charging some of the poorest Australians who seek basic medical care.
The government knows this new tax will push vulnerable Australians into emergency departments, so the Abbott Government is now going to bully the states into introducing an emergency department tax, which could tax the most vulnerable out of the health system entirely.
Sick Australians will pay for Tony Abbott’s broken promises and twisted priorities.