AMA releases its election health report card

The health report card provides an overview of each of the major parties’ health commitments made during the campaign and compares them to the five pillars of the AMA’s Vision for Australia’s Health.

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said healthcare, for good reason, had been one of the major concerns of the public during the election campaign, but despite this neither major party had provided an overall vision for Australia’s health – the necessary big picture reform, backed by significant funding to general practice, preventative health, public hospitals and the private health system.

The report card highlights significant health investments – including the ALP’s promise of almost a billion-dollar investment into general practice to realise the 10 Year Primary Health Care Plan, and to provide funding for additional GP infrastructure.

The AMA report card outlines other notable health investments, including $146 million by the Coalition, then matched by ALP, for rural health and the AMA’s longstanding call for a Centre for Disease Control being committed to by the ALP and the Greens.

“It is disappointing that after two years of a pandemic, health was not made a more central feature of the two major parties’ platforms.” noted Dr Khorshid.

You can read the full AMA election health report card here.