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AMA President talks about alternative co-payment proposal

Following his address to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee on Tuesday this week regarding out-of-pocket costs for healthcare, AMA President, A/Prof Brian Owler, spoke to the media about the AMA’s alternative GP co-payment proposal. 

A/Prof Owler said that the AMA will not support a model that takes money out of primary healthcare by reducing Medicare rebates, but that the AMA’s alternative model will do what the Government has said it wants to achieve, which is to send a price signal on healthcare. It will also have protections for those that are most vulnerable and that truly can’t afford to pay a co-payment, and encourage people to see their doctor for preventative healthcare.

A/Prof Owler said that Australians enjoy a very good health system and a very high standard of medical training and practice. He stressed that we need to value general practice and primary care to make sure that we can better manage people in the community, keep them well, and keep them out of more expensive hospital care.

Read the transcript of A/Prof Owler’s media interview 29 July 2014.

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