MEDIA RELEASE

14 May 2022

ALP Medicare funding increase not enough

The Australian GP Alliance (AGPA) says the increased funding for Medicare and direct grants to General Practices proposed by the ALP, while welcome, do not go far enough to reverse a decade of neglect.

The ALP has proposed an extra $250 million a year to be spent in accordance with recommendations from a Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and a Strengthening Medicare GP Grants program to invest $220M in General Practices.

“It is especially pleasing to see the recognition of the importance of General Practices as a key part of the primary healthcare system,” said AGPA Chair, Dr John Deery.

“The primary healthcare system has three equally critical parts – sufficient numbers of well-trained GPs and allied health professionals, viable medical practices to provide infrastructure and compliance with accreditation standards and timely and affordable access for patients.

“Medicare funding has been effectively denuded, leading to less viable practices and falling GP recruitment and retention. All of this has led to increased patient costs and reduced timely patient accessibility.

“The crisis that has developed in primary healthcare is directly attributable to underfunding of Medicare by both major parties over many years”, Dr Deery said.

“The Strengthening Medicare Taskforce is a great idea, but the proposed composition needs to be expanded to include organisations that genuinely represent the interests of the General Practice sector such as AGPA.

“Having recognised the importance of the Practices in the primary healthcare equation it is essential that they are independently represented in the Taskforce”, said Dr Deery.

“Primary Health Care is an investment in the nation. One dollar invested saves ten dollars in hospital costs”.

For further comment please contact:

Dr John Deery – 0420 529 337 or Dr Mukesh Haikerwal – 0407 599 332

AGPA Secretariat

Phone:  02 6290 1505

Email:   admin@australiangpalliance.org.au