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Medicare report seriously flawed

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, has rejected the findings of the Australian Institute for Primary Care report on A Fairer Medicare.

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23 September 2003

Medicare report seriously flawed

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, has rejected the findings of the Australian Institute for Primary Care report on A Fairer Medicare.

"The conclusions simply reflect the initial assumptions that the authors chose," said Senator Patterson.

"There is no analytical base to back them up."

Senator Patterson said the report makes spurious claims that the Government's package will cause bulk billing rates to plummet and doctors' fees to rise.

"There is simply no evidence in the report that the Government's package will result in lower bulk-billing levels," she said.

"The report's conclusions use a target income model which assumes that GPs are only motivated by money.

"Under the assumptions used in the report, any policy change would lead to a fee increase."

Senator Patterson also questioned the report's assumptions on bulk-billing.

"The authors have simply assumed that bulk-billing rates will fall to 50 per cent. This assumption has no basis in reality, does not reflect current GP billing practices or the Government's intentions behind the Fairer Medicare package.

"At present, bulk billing rates are around 70 per cent, and there is nothing in the report to substantiate a significant fall. Yet this is the fundamental basis of their findings.

"The Government's package has been carefully designed and targeted to ensure fairer access to bulk-billing for all Australians.

"The incentives guarantee that most GPs will be more than compensated for any income they forgo by no longer charging concession card holders a gap.

"It is pure nonsense to suggest that an injection of $917 million into the primary care system will have a detrimental effect on the people of Australia.

"This just another part of Labor's Medicare scare campaign."

For more information contact Randal Markey (or Sarah Higginbottom), Media Adviser, Senator Patterson's office, (02) 62777220.