Doorstop Dr Bill Glasson, AMA President, Sydney - Meeting with Prime Minister; medical indemnity; Medicare levy

GLASSON:          This is my Vice President, Mukesh Haikerwal behind me here. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we've just had a meeting with the Prime Minister.  We had a lot of robust discussion about a range of issues, particularly those around indemnity, and around the workforce situation that we currently find in this country.

The reality is that the indemnity situation at the moment is not sustainable in the long term.  We obviously feel that the current model that we're operating under has to be reviewed.  The Prime Minister has agreed to look at a number of options on the way we can move forward, and particularly looking at also the issue of the IBNRs, the incurred but not recorded levy, that's just gone out.  The significant parts of our profession that are hurting, from the extra financial burden that they find themselves under.   I particularly refer here to a lot of our female practitioners, female specialists and general practitioners, who are trying to both run a general practice and specialist practice, as well as bringing up a family.

We had long discussions about that area, and have agreed to move forward, as I say, on a number of proposals to try and address those needs.  As well, we particularly looked at the issue of workforce as it relates to the outer metropolitan areas, particularly of Sydney and Melbourne, and the other larger cities around this country.  And again a number of strategies were put to him as far as actually trying to increase that workforce, maintain the workforce that we currently have, and also a means by which we can actually get younger doctors into the profession, particularly in the general practice area, to address those long term needs.

QUESTION:         Does he promise to give any sort of undertakings about the concerns you brought up, or any general issues?

GLASSON:          Yes he did.  As I said, the discussion was very robust and very fruitful, I felt.  He had a good understanding, I think, of the concerns of the profession, and also of the public out there, because as I keep saying, it's the back benchers are saying that they just can't find doctors in their electorate.  The reality is unless we can turn this around, there'll be fewer and fewer doctors seeing more and more patients.  And so he has finally agreed to look at specific strategies that we've raised, to see whether we can move forward on this as quickly as possible.

QUESTION:         Did you ask him to scrap the levy outright?

GLASSON:          No, I didn't ask him to scrap the levy outright.  The reality is that we have to ensure that the few people who are caught up in this levy, that it remains affordable.  I have put forward a proposal, we put forward a proposal to him, that we impact on the amount of that levy. And I won't go into the specific details here today, but he has agreed to look at that strategy and to see whether we can move forward on it. 

Because we cannot, particularly in New South Wales... the level of the premiums the doctors are paying here, the IBNR on top of that, is just the straw that breaks the camel's back.  And there are a lot of people hurting, and what it will do is impact yet again on the workforce situation.

QUESTION:        

GLASSON:          No, no.  I mean Senator Kay Patterson and Senator Coonan obviously have done a lot in this area already.  I suppose the ultimate engine room is through Treasury and through the Prime Minister, and I think it's part of our responsibility to go round and meet all the ministers, on both sides, Opposition as well, to try and get them to understand our situation so that when they can stand up in the cabinet room they actually argue on behalf of the patients of Australia. 

And this is what it's all about, it's not about doctors, it's about patients in this country being able to access high quality, affordable medicine, and it's our role to ensure that we educate and try to ensure that ministers from across the board understand the situation.

QUESTION:         Can I ask you though that if the levy is reduced, doesn't this mean that the taxpayer at the end of the day will have to foot the bill for an increase in insurance premiums?

GLASSON:          That's a good question.  At the end of the day, who finally foots the bill?  Now this levy is either going to be paid, as I say, by the sick patients, the patients that actually see the doctor, or they can be helped in part by the well patients, and I would suggest to you that the well patients out there probably have not contributed enough to the system, because I'm afraid that the patients who are the sick patients who are accessing doctors, are the ones that are requiring to pay this amount. 

And so you've only got to talk about the increase in medical costs that patients are finding themselves subjected to, the increase gaps they're subjected to, and they are hurting.  And what I'm saying is that they cannot continue to pay any more. And so in reality, you are right, the general taxation base has to pick up some of this responsibility, and this is, I think, across all MDO, not just UMP members, I think across all MDO's in this country.

QUESTION:         Would you see an increase in the Medicare levy?  Is it being targeted towards this?

GLASSON:          Look, there are a number of options available how to fund this, and I won't go into those options.  But that is a possible option as to how the system should be funded. But obviously there are other means that we could look at, to try and address the shortfall in funding.

QUESTION:         Were any of those discussed today with the Prime Minister?

GLASSON:          Not specifically, no.  I mean as far as... I suppose we just defined a strategy to move ahead, and as part of those groups, group meetings, we can actually look to various means by which this can be funded.

QUESTION:         How do you think the general public will react, if there was an increase in the Medicare levy to cover this premium cost, given that gap payments and bulk billing have been reduced?

GLASSON:          I think if I said to the patients out there, "Listen, I can guarantee you a medical workforce, a high quality medical workforce, and hopefully an affordable medical workforce", I think the general public would say to me, "Bill, go ahead and do the job". But the reality of the situation is that the public out there are telling me that they cannot find doctors, those that they can find are becoming ever increasingly more expensive in the sense of increasing gaps, as you say.

So I think if you asked the general constituent out there, they would like to see us actually maintaining an affordable and viable medical system in this country. And I keep saying we do have one of the best systems in the world, we've got to preserve it, we've got to stick up for it, to ensure that when you and I need those services, they are available.

QUESTION:         But at the end of the day, doesn't it still beg the question, what is the insurance industry going to do to help doctors and the medical practice, and was that addressed today at the meeting?

GLASSON:          I think the reality is where we move forward with the medical indemnity industry, in other words, what structure, what function, I think is open for review.  Obviously at the moment we have seven medical defence organisations in this country.  Whether that's going to be long term sustainable or not, I think that is questionable.  But at this stage I don't think we plan to interfere with the current structure, I suppose the long-term viability will depend on the financial circumstances in the next couple of years, particularly.

Ends