Young GPs hit hard by indemnity tax

Dr Haikerwal said the IBNR tax bill, which covers expected claims for the next ten years, was calculated based on income earned by doctors in the year 2000.

"That's three years ago. Since then, many GPs have changed their work hours to part time or have quit," Dr Haikerwal said.

"Some doctors have taken a break from paid work altogether to stay at home with children or to continue their studies.

"These doctors, who are GPs and specialists, are young. They have just completed at least ten years of training. They may have worked for a couple of years on a reasonable income around 2000 and then decided to start a family.

"The AMA wants the doctors to pay nothing till the whole indemnity mess is sorted out.

"The community won't benefit if the problem is still there in 18 months.

"The reality that certain groups of doctors are hurting hard would have been difficult to predict when the decision was announced. Some groups of doctors are feeling the pain more than others.

"This anomaly most directly affects the most vulnerable doctors in their training years. They are our junior doctors.

"As part of the restructure of the entire medical indemnity insurance area these issues must be addressed," Dr Haikerwal said.

The AMA calls for:

• All care cost components of awards to be met by Government
• All claims made six years after an event to be a Government responsibility

"If the Government addresses these two issues now, the immediate crisis and the IBNR issue would be resolved," Dr Haikerwal said.

The AMA also calls for the Government to support the AMA expert taskforce to find the best long term solution to medical indemnity that includes a long term care scheme for the catastrophically injured.

CONTACT:         John Flannery            (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761

                       Judith Tokley             (02) 6270 5471 / (0408) 824 306