- Reverse their entire freeze – on GPs, specialists consultations and procedures and allied health services, effective 1 July 2017.
- Drop their cuts to pathology and diagnostic imaging bulk billing incentives, which will make vital scans and tests more expensive.
- Malcolm Turnbull must drop his medicines hike, which will drive up the cost of medicine for every single Australian by up to $5.
- Scrap the savage cuts to Medicare safety nets, which will see out of pocket expenses soar and which oncologists warn could double out of pocket expenses for cancer patients.
- Drop the $300 million a year cut to adult public dental services that will see 337,000 Australians lose access to life-changing dental services, putting more pressure on waiting lists.
- Reverse cuts which have gutted preventive health, including ripping $368 million from the National Partnership Agreement in Preventive Health which forced the closure of programs which run physical activity and healthy eating initiatives for children in schools, early childhood centres and preschools.
- Provide funding for the Supported Leave for Living Organ Donors program- which supports living organ donors give the gift of life and aids in their recovery through leave at the minimum wage. The Turnbull Government has advised the program will cease on 30 June 2017.
The Government’s attacks on health have dragged us so far backwards that they need to drop every single one of their cuts in a week’s time.
Anything less will be yet another insult to both Australian patients and hard-working medical professionals who have been paying the price time and time again under a government that doesn’t get the impact of their unfair health policies.
TUESDAY, 2 MAY 2017