Patients in Woy Woy and across the Central Coast are struggling to access basic health care, with Malcolm Turnbull and Lucy Wicks cutting millions from local hospitals and Medicare.
Shadow Minister for Health and Medicare Catherine King and Labor Candidate for Robertson Anne Charlton visited Woy Woy Hospital today to see the impact of the cuts.
The Liberals are cutting over $10 million from Central Coast public hospitals between now and 2020. This is part of a massive $215 million cut to NSW hospitals.
Malcolm Turnbull and Lucy Wicks’ cut to Central Coast hospitals is equivalent to:
- 5 beds;
- 14 doctors;
- 28 nurses;
- Over 15,000 emergency department visits; or
- Over 24,000 outpatient appointments.
These cuts come on top of the Liberals’ Medicare freeze, which is cutting $2.2 billion from Medicare over the next four years – on top of the billions in savings they have already banked.
As a result, patients in Robertson now pay an average out-of-pocket fee of $32.45 to see a GP. This cost is unaffordable for many local people, with an estimated 6,000 people delaying or avoiding seeing their GP each year.
Another 10,500 people in Robertson skip seeing specialists due to cost, with average out-of-pocket fees of $75.05 –and much higher for many patients.
While patients are struggling to afford basic health care, Malcolm Turnbull and Lucy Wicks are so out-of-touch that they are yet to lift any part of their Medicare freeze. Rebates for GPs, specialists and allied health services all remain frozen, and the freeze won’t be fully lifted until 2020.
Whether it’s making Medicare more expensive, cutting public hospitals or putting health insurance profits before patients – Turnbull and Wicks can never be trusted on health.
Labor created Medicare, and only Labor will ensure that people on the Central Coast can access the health care they deserve.
THURSDAY, 8 MARCH 2018