Budget cuts are not health reform
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the Government risks losing all health reform credibility if it pursues speculated Budget savings by cutting essential patient services while at the same time pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into unproven projects such as Medicare Locals and GP Super Clinics.
Dr Pesce said that cutting funding for services that are known to help patients is not health reform.
“Health reform should be about making the system better, not cutting services that work or making services more expensive for people,” Dr Pesce said.
“You would have thought that the Government would have learnt from previous Budgets where cuts were made without any consultation with the medical profession about where possible savings could be made.
“Every day, doctors witness the significant improvements that PBS-listed medicines make to people’s health.
“People should have access to the latest medicines that the expert body, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, has assessed as being safe and cost-effective.
“Life-saving and life-enhancing medicines should be made more affordable, not priced out of reach of working people concerned about their health and the health of their families.
“Cuts to Medicare patient rebates for pathology services also increase out-of-pocket costs for families.
“We must not have a situation where people avoid or delay important diagnostic tests because of cost.
“We urge the Government to direct vital health funding to programs and services that are known to keep people healthy and out of hospital.
“In difficult economic conditions, health funding must be directed to patients and not to new bureaucracies.
“Health care services must be given priority over new programs such as Medicare Locals and GP Super Clinics that are lacking details about their operation and lacking evidence about their effectiveness,” Dr Pesce said.
11 March 2011
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