p style=”text-align: justify;”>The Health Minister’s reported backdown on applying the GP Tax to children’s vaccination appointments confirms it is a health disaster and must be scrapped.
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The Health Minister’s reported backdown on applying the GP Tax to children’s vaccination appointments confirms it is a health disaster and must be scrapped.
Labor has warned all along that the $7 GP Tax would act as a barrier to people seeing their doctor, leading to even worse health outcomes and hospitalisations.
This has been endorsed by Queensland LNP Senator Ian Macdonald who told ABC 24 this morning that the GP Tax was “dangerous”.
Minister Dutton’s belated acknowledgment that the tax would prevent children receiving essential vaccinations is proof of this.
But Shadow Health Minister Catherine King has questioned why, if the Minister now admits the GP Tax is a disaster for children’s health, he is still persisting with it for every other visit to the GP?
Why is there still a tax on flu shots for pensioners? Or a tax on taking sick children to the GP? Or a tax on every other visit to a GP that could prevent more serious illness?
As Royal College of General Practitioners told the recent Senate Inquiry into out of pocket expenses –
“there is good evidence to suggest that there is a negative economic impact with patients using more expensive health care through the hospital system that could be delivered by general practice at a fraction of the cost. General practice has been, and remains, the most efficient component of the health system”
Using a tax to stop people seeing their GP is dumb health policy, as the Minister has today acknowledged with his backdown on taxing parents taking their kids to a doctor for their essential vaccinations.
It’s now time he acknowledged it’s dumb policy for everyone and scrap his unfair and dangerous GP Tax.