In this podcast, @michellegrattan canvasses the budget with Treasurer @JEChalmers, Shadow Treasurer @AngusTaylorMP and The Conversation's politics + society editor @amandadunn10
Yes, 86% of GP visits were bulk-billed in 2017-18, up from 82% when Labor was in power. But they also rose under Labor, while the percentage for “patients” seems to be lower than the percentage for “visits”.
In twin speeches to the National Press Club, Labor leader Bill Shorten said bulk-billing rates are falling, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said bulk-billing is at record levels. Who was right?
Shadow minister for health and medicare Catherine King said under this government, average out-of-pocket costs for GP visits are up by almost 20%. Is that true?
Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, said that the government has “cut bulk-billing payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging to make patients pay more”. Is that right?
Industry consolidation and technological advances have completely reshaped the pathology industry over recent decades. But the way governments pay for pathology services hasn’t kept up.
Australia spent $16 billion on GP-related health care in 2012-13. Given that our public health system means each of us is paying for health care through our taxes, what should we expect from doctors?
In the government’s latest “scraping away the barnacles” of unpopular and blocked policies, prime minister Tony Abbott and health minister Peter Dutton have announced they’re abandoning the plan to have…
“The bulk-billing rates are at historic highs now. Visits to GPs are 82% bulk-billed. When Tony Abbott was minister it was 67%.” Health minister Tanya Plibersek, National Press Club Health Debate, 27 August…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne