MONIQUE WRIGHT, CHANNEL 7: Returning to our top story this morning, the PM's flagship health care policy is in the spotlight this morning, after GPs raised concerns that his bold plan for an $8.5 billion investment in Medicare won't improve our struggling health system. The Albanese Government has announced what it is calling the single largest cash boost for bulk billing.
DAVID WOIWOD, CHANNEL 7: Yes, in a massive pre-election promise, the Prime Minister says he'll make it cheaper for Australians to see a doctor by paying GPs more if they bulk bill. And for more, we are joined by Aged Care Minister Anika Wells, live in Brisbane. Good morning to you, Minister. Look, we hit the phones last night. We spoke to a number of GPs and look, while they welcomed the spotlight on the system, one GP said this just rewards that churn and burn model with lots of short consults. It doesn't compensate for the vast majority of patients that they actually see who have complex health conditions. What is your response to that?
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Well, I hit the doors yesterday in Deagon on the north side of Brisbane, and this goes to the heart of what people are looking for from their Federal Government. They're looking for high quality public services that they can rely upon. And if you're an Australian household waking up today, you can know that because of this, you no longer have to worry about using your credit card to go to the GP. You will be able to rely upon your Medicare card.
WRIGHT: But doesn't it encourage more of that churn and burn, more of these six minute consults when GPs are saying no one needs a six minute consult? Most people, the vast majority, need a lot more.
WELLS: I agree that there is chronic disease and health problems in Australia that make GP work ever more complex in this country, and that's why there's been multiple other initiatives this term of Government the Minister, Mark Butler, our Health Minister, has led, including a $1.7 billion agreement with the states under the new health and hospital agreement just two weeks ago in the Parliament. This is by no means the only thing that we are doing in the health system. It takes a while to turn the Queen Mary around when it was left in such decay by the previous government, including Peter Dutton as health minister. But what are Australian households looking for? They're looking for cost of living relief, and they want to know if they’re sick or their kids are sick, they're not going to have to make a decision about where to cut in their household budget to go and get the health treatment that they need.
WOIWOD: Yeah. Look, Minister, another GP that we spoke to said that they hadn't taken a pay rise in 15 years. Their costs, they just keep on going up. And we already know that a third actually want to leave the profession. It's not just about the money for these practitioners, is it? What is your plan to actually cut down that administrative burden on these doctors?
WELLS: Well, that's exactly right. They're speaking to what happened when Peter Dutton was health minister, and he froze the bulk billing rate for six years. So GPs like those ones you're talking to had to make a decision to cut bulk billing just for the viability of their practises I think that's the experience that you've honed in on there, which is why we're tripling the bulk billing initiative. There's only about 1600 practises across the country that bulk bill at the moment. Today's announcement, $8.5 billion, will triple that to 4800 bulk billing clinics by 2030, or $859 million off the cost of going to the GP if you're an Australian household.
WRIGHT: Yeah –
WELLS: [Talks over] People want to know that when you're sick you can go- yeah. Sorry, Monique?
WRIGHT: Sorry. So Anika, you were just talking there that the incentives are there for practises who are fully bulk billed but most GPs, as you mentioned, have a mix of bulk billing and charging. So the GPs that we have spoken to overnight have said that they'll actually be worse off. They'll be worse off if they go to a fully bulk billed practise and they're already on the line. They are already losing money even though they can't keep up with demand.
WELLS: Well, I think what the AMA has said about this, this $8.5 billion announcement overnight, this replaces the $8.3 billion that was ripped out of this system by Peter Dutton during his time in government. So I accept that the pen is never down in health policy. We love working on new ways to improve the health system, and by no means are we there yet. But today is a really important cost of living measure, and by no means have we left the doctors behind. We're going to train 2000 new GPs every single year as a result of some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that is in this announcement today. We've got nursing scholarships under way as well. So we're really doing things to try and address those workforce shortages and to make this area that's so important, primary health, an area that GPs want to come and work in.
WRIGHT: The other problem that these GPs have talked about is they get the trainee doctors in, they come and do their time with them and say, we're not staying. It is too hard. The administrative burden where GPs are not appreciated, et cetera. There is such a litany of issues that they talk about here, so we might have more doctors coming in, which is terrific, desperately needed. But how do we keep them there? How do we address all these other issues?
WELLS: That's right, and I know that Mark Butler has worked with all different areas of health professionals this term about that. Why is there such a trend away from primary care? Why is there such a trend away from GPs when GPs are the bed- bread and butter of our health system? It's what we need in every single suburb and region across the country. So like I said, $8.5 billion today is the single largest injection into Medicare. And that's worth celebrating because it will make a difference for Australian families and Australian households. But there is more work to do, and that's why we've been doing that work and this represents $8.5 billion dollars of more health reform that the Albanese Labor Government has been pleased to do, because we love Medicare, we'll protect Medicare, and we'll always be looking at ways to strengthen Medicare.
WOIWOD: Well, Minister, we thank you for your time. We will continue to sift through the details of this policy. Thanks again.
MONIQUE WRIGHT, CHANNEL 7: Returning to our top story this morning, the PM's flagship health care policy is in the spotlight this morning, after GPs raised concerns that his bold plan for an $8.5 billion investment in Medicare won't improve our struggling health system. The Albanese Government has announced what it is calling the single largest cash boost for bulk billing.
DAVID WOIWOD, CHANNEL 7: Yes, in a massive pre-election promise, the Prime Minister says he'll make it cheaper for Australians to see a doctor by paying GPs more if they bulk bill. And for more, we are joined by Aged Care Minister Anika Wells, live in Brisbane. Good morning to you, Minister. Look, we hit the phones last night. We spoke to a number of GPs and look, while they welcomed the spotlight on the system, one GP said this just rewards that churn and burn model with lots of short consults. It doesn't compensate for the vast majority of patients that they actually see who have complex health conditions. What is your response to that?
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Well, I hit the doors yesterday in Deagon on the north side of Brisbane, and this goes to the heart of what people are looking for from their Federal Government. They're looking for high quality public services that they can rely upon. And if you're an Australian household waking up today, you can know that because of this, you no longer have to worry about using your credit card to go to the GP. You will be able to rely upon your Medicare card.
WRIGHT: But doesn't it encourage more of that churn and burn, more of these six minute consults when GPs are saying no one needs a six minute consult? Most people, the vast majority, need a lot more.
WELLS: I agree that there is chronic disease and health problems in Australia that make GP work ever more complex in this country, and that's why there's been multiple other initiatives this term of Government the Minister, Mark Butler, our Health Minister, has led, including a $1.7 billion agreement with the states under the new health and hospital agreement just two weeks ago in the Parliament. This is by no means the only thing that we are doing in the health system. It takes a while to turn the Queen Mary around when it was left in such decay by the previous government, including Peter Dutton as health minister. But what are Australian households looking for? They're looking for cost of living relief, and they want to know if they’re sick or their kids are sick, they're not going to have to make a decision about where to cut in their household budget to go and get the health treatment that they need.
WOIWOD: Yeah. Look, Minister, another GP that we spoke to said that they hadn't taken a pay rise in 15 years. Their costs, they just keep on going up. And we already know that a third actually want to leave the profession. It's not just about the money for these practitioners, is it? What is your plan to actually cut down that administrative burden on these doctors?
WELLS: Well, that's exactly right. They're speaking to what happened when Peter Dutton was health minister, and he froze the bulk billing rate for six years. So GPs like those ones you're talking to had to make a decision to cut bulk billing just for the viability of their practises I think that's the experience that you've honed in on there, which is why we're tripling the bulk billing initiative. There's only about 1600 practises across the country that bulk bill at the moment. Today's announcement, $8.5 billion, will triple that to 4800 bulk billing clinics by 2030, or $859 million off the cost of going to the GP if you're an Australian household.
WRIGHT: Yeah –
WELLS: [Talks over] People want to know that when you're sick you can go- yeah. Sorry, Monique?
WRIGHT: Sorry. So Anika, you were just talking there that the incentives are there for practises who are fully bulk billed but most GPs, as you mentioned, have a mix of bulk billing and charging. So the GPs that we have spoken to overnight have said that they'll actually be worse off. They'll be worse off if they go to a fully bulk billed practise and they're already on the line. They are already losing money even though they can't keep up with demand.
WELLS: Well, I think what the AMA has said about this, this $8.5 billion announcement overnight, this replaces the $8.3 billion that was ripped out of this system by Peter Dutton during his time in government. So I accept that the pen is never down in health policy. We love working on new ways to improve the health system, and by no means are we there yet. But today is a really important cost of living measure, and by no means have we left the doctors behind. We're going to train 2000 new GPs every single year as a result of some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that is in this announcement today. We've got nursing scholarships under way as well. So we're really doing things to try and address those workforce shortages and to make this area that's so important, primary health, an area that GPs want to come and work in.
WRIGHT: The other problem that these GPs have talked about is they get the trainee doctors in, they come and do their time with them and say, we're not staying. It is too hard. The administrative burden where GPs are not appreciated, et cetera. There is such a litany of issues that they talk about here, so we might have more doctors coming in, which is terrific, desperately needed. But how do we keep them there? How do we address all these other issues?
WELLS: That's right, and I know that Mark Butler has worked with all different areas of health professionals this term about that. Why is there such a trend away from primary care? Why is there such a trend away from GPs when GPs are the bed- bread and butter of our health system? It's what we need in every single suburb and region across the country. So like I said, $8.5 billion today is the single largest injection into Medicare. And that's worth celebrating because it will make a difference for Australian families and Australian households. But there is more work to do, and that's why we've been doing that work and this represents $8.5 billion dollars of more health reform that the Albanese Labor Government has been pleased to do, because we love Medicare, we'll protect Medicare, and we'll always be looking at ways to strengthen Medicare.
WOIWOD: Well, Minister, we thank you for your time. We will continue to sift through the details of this policy. Thanks again.