Dr Kerryn Phelps, AMA President, Sydney
PHELPS: I think whatever positive spin the Government tries to put on this it means that there's been 11 million fewer consultations with general practitioners that have been bulk-billed in the past year, 2.7% is a massive decrease in the bulk-billing rates, it's as the AMA has been predicting all along and I predict that there will be further sharp declines in bulk-billing rates because there simply hasn't been anything done to address the concerns in general practice. And general practitioners are no longer prepared to subsidise Medicare.
QUESTION: The Health Minister said it's heartening that so many doctors are still bulk-billing. What do you think of that?
PHELPS: I think it's astonishing that so many doctors are still bulk-billing given the conditions that many of them are working under. They're trying to run businesses, they're employing staff, they're paying their expenses and they simply can't do it for the paltry amount that Medicare provides so patients are simply going to have to, more and more, become accustomed to the notion of paying something out-of-pocket for their doctors' bills because doctors can't subsidise Medicare any longer.
QUESTION: Do you have any idea what level we're going to have to get to of bulk-billing? Like, will it have to be only half of doctors or what, before the Government starts taking notice?
PHELPS: I think it's now between the electors and the Government because the medical profession has done all we can to raise the issues to government, to make the public aware of the pressures on general practice and it really is now for the Government and the Opposition to actually enunciate their policies for Medicare, not just to say we support Medicare without saying what they're going to do to support Medicare. It's not good enough.
QUESTION: Does the rebate need to be doubled?
PHELPS: The rebate can be anywhere you like to put it but basically if you want the gap to be zero for people then the rebate has to be in the vicinity of $50. At the moment, it's less than $25. So if you're going to be serious about fully funding the cost of Medicare then that's what you'd have to do.
Now, both the Government and the Opposition are saying that they feel that that is unaffordable for the taxpayer so it's really over to more of a user-pays type of system where people have to get used to paying for the service of their general practitioner.
What that leaves us with is a concern about people who are disadvantaged, who are chronically ill, low income families who may not feel as if they can afford to access quality general practice services and there needs to be some policy around a safety net for those people.
QUESTION: So it's not just about the size of the rebate?
PHELPS: It's definitely not about the size of the rebate except that that determines the gap that patients have to pay. Now, people who can afford to pay for general practice services, it's not such a problem for them. For people who are chronically ill, who have low incomes, who have fixed incomes, who are genuinely disadvantaged, it could well become more of a problem for them if they are having to pay larger out-of-pocket costs. And that's something that both the Government and the Opposition need to come to grips with and start to articulate a policy around a safety net for those people.
Ends