Archive for category: NEWS & ARTICLES

More Australian patients are visiting their GP without having to pay, with the bulk billing rate for the September quarter increasing to a record 85.9 per cent.

This is the highest bulk billing rate ever achieved for a September quarter – and significantly higher than Labor’s 82.2% when they were last in Government, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt.

“We’re spending more than ever before on Medicare – with record funding increasing each and every year from $23 billion in 2017-18, to $24 billion, to $26 billion to $28 billion in 2020-21,” he said. “Spending under Labor was $19.5 billion in 2012-13.

“Last financial year, Australian patients received an additional 21 million bulk billed GP visits compared with Labor’s last year in Government in 2012-13 – an increase of more than 20 per cent.”

The Federal Government will invest a record $24 million to support landmark research into cardiovascular disease by The George Institute for Global Health. This is National Health and Medical Research Council’s third largest grant ever provided for medical research in Australia and the largest investment in research on cardiovascular disease – a disease which many Australians do not know they have. Read more

In the recent New Zealand election campaign, one policy united parties from all parts of the political spectrum – their intention to reduce the fees patients pay for GP practice services. The only difference was by how much fees were promised to fall and which groups within the community would benefit from increased subsidies. Read more

From 1 November 2017, thousands of Australian patients and their families will be able to access new Medicare supported treatments for breast and ovarian cancer, heart disease, epilepsy, stroke, lymphoma and liver tumours. Read more

By Lesley Russell*

The government’s focus on private health insurance premiums ignores the real costs of a two-tiered system. Health minister Greg Hunt’s private health insurance announcement might have promised to make the system “simpler and more affordable” but it delivered more for private health insurers’ bottom lines than for Australians’ budgets. It also highlighted the contorted, confused and controversial logic that underpins the government’s push for taxpayers to finance a two-tiered healthcare system. Read more