p>
Tony Abbott’s first year in office has been a litany of lies and a year of unprecedented cuts for Australia’s health system.
,^^^,
Tony Abbott’s first year in office has been a litany of lies and a year of unprecedented cuts for Australia’s health system.
Just one day before the election Mr Abbott promised ”no cuts to health” but in his very first Budget he tore up a landmark agreement with the states and ripped more than $50 billion from the nation’s hospitals.
“There will be no surprises, there will be no excuses, we will do what we’ve said we will do. What we aren’t going to do is we’re not going to cut health spending.”
TONY ABBOTT – 3AW NEIL MITCHELL – 6 SEPTEMBER 2013
After promising not to shut any Medicare Locals he announced he planned to shut every single one of Australia’s 61 Medicare Locals.
"We are not shutting any Medicare Locals."
TONY ABBOTT – ROOTY HILL PEOPLE’S FORUM – 28 AUGUST 2013
After promising “no new taxes” he slugged all Australians with a $7 GP tax for every visit to a doctor, every pathology test, every diagnostic imaging test, and increased the cost of their prescriptions.
“We are about getting rid of taxes, not imposing new taxes.”
TONY ABBOTT – PRESS CONFERENCE, ROLEYSTONE – 20 NOVEMBER 2012
And not one cent of this goes back into the Budget. As the AMA has noted, the GP Tax is nothing but a cash grab, which rips money off patients, doctors and the health system:
“The Government’s $7 co-payment takes money out of health care, including general practice, almost $4 billion in fact, and asks patients to contribute those funds.”
AMA President Brian Owler, 27 August 2014
Worse, the GP Tax is a damaging short-sighted policy which is both bad for health and bad for the Budget.
As a survey by the Consumer Health Forum found, taxing sick Australians to prevent them seeing a doctor will only lead to even greater health problems, increasing the pressure on public hospitals already reeling under massive Budget cuts:
"co-payments will hit chronically ill and people on low incomes the hardest. … a co-payment scheme will not generate cost savings for the health system but will – in fact – add to the costs. A co-payment will result in more people going straight to hospital emergency departments."
Consumers Health Forum CEO, Adam Stankevicius
The Abbott Government’s first year has been a disaster for health – bad for patients, bad for health care, and bad for the long term sustainability of the health system.
Tony Abbott should mark the first anniversary of his election by ending his assault on Medicare and delivering what he promised by axing his GP Tax and medicine price hikes.
Australians can’t afford another year of Abbott’s lies on health care.