Catherine King

Catherine King

CATHERINE KING MP
Federal Member Ballarat
Shadow Minister Infrastructure, Transport & Regional Development

T (03) 5338 8123
Email: Catherine.King.MP@aph.gov.au

Catherine King MP
Electorate Office
5 Lydiard Street North
Ballarat, VIC 3350

Bacchus Marsh
(every Friday from 10am to 3pm)
Lerderderg Library
Geoffrey Hine Room
215 Main Street
Bacchus Marsh, VIC 3340

Open in Google Maps
  • ABOUT
  • BALLARAT
  • MEDIA
    • LOCAL MEDIA
    • NATIONAL MEDIA
  • POLICY
  • CONTACT US
Sunday, 28 August 2016 / Published in MEDIA

GOVERNMENT OUT OF TOUCH ON MEDICARE

The Government’s triumphalism about today’s bulk billing figures shows how out of touch they are on Medicare.

As the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has said previously, the statistics the Government is using are “misleading” and “should be rejected”.

That’s because they measure the number of services that are bulk billed, not the number of patients. So they hide the fact that millions of Australians are no longer bulk billed.

These statistics also ignore the fact that out-of-pocket costs have more than doubled.

GPs have the best interests of their patients at heart, and many continued to bulk bill in 2015-16. They had been assured the freeze would be lifted in the Budget, and were watching the outcome of the election.

But now that it’s clear that Malcolm Turnbull’s Medicare freeze is an ice age, practices around Australia are abandoning bulk billing.

For example, the only practice on Magnetic Island in Queensland has advised the Island’s residents that it is abandoning bulk billing due to “Medicare restrictions and cuts”.

Similarly, the Collins and Grosvenor Street General Practices in Hobart have scrapped bulk billing due to the freeze.

Australians know that Malcolm Turnbull’s six year freeze on Medicare rebates is driving bulk billing down and out-of-pocket costs up.

The Government’s insistence otherwise only shows how out of touch they are.

SUNDAY, 28 AUGUST 2016

MEDIA CONTACT: ANDREW GARRETT – 0412 300 994

Tagged under: 2016

What you can read next

EBOLA CRISIS
TRUCK DRIVERS TO BENEFIT FROM SAFER SALEYARDS IN BALLARAT
SUSSAN LEY: NO VISION, NO STRATEGY, NO ANSWERS, MORE REVIEWS

FILTER BY TYPE:

  • MEDIA
    • LOCAL MEDIA
    • NATIONAL MEDIA

FILTER BY YEAR:

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

© Catherine King. Authorised by Catherine King, Australian Labor Party, Canberra

Noise Birds

TOP