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More bad news for Veterans' Health - fewer GPs and less Bulk Billing

An AMA faxpoll of GPs who treat veterans under the Department of Veterans' Affairs Local Medical Officer (LMO) Scheme indicates that more than 40 per cent of LMO doctors will withdraw their services if the Federal Government fails to increase funding for the scheme.

Conducted in early September 2002, the poll is based on 1409 responses from LMO GPs Australia-wide.

AMA President, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said today the poll shows that 41 per cent of LMO doctors would stop bulk billing veterans and withdraw from the scheme if fees weren't increased to reflect the real value of providing a quality medical service to veterans.

"Fees are currently based on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), which has fallen well behind the cost of medical practice," Dr Phelps said.

"Coming on top of recent advice that the Government has deferred proposed funding increases for the Repatriation Private Patient Scheme (RPPS) for specialist medical services, the outlook for the health care of our veterans looks grim.

"It is mean of the Government to put the Budget bottom line ahead of the health of men and women who served their country," Dr Phelps said.

There are 459,000 veterans - 334,442 of whom are Gold Card holders.

Around 12,000 GPs are currently part of the DVA LMO Scheme, under which veterans receive free medical care and treatment and the GP bulk bills the DVA.

The current government contract arrangements between doctors and the DVA expire in December this year, meaning that as many as 5000 GPs could be withdrawing from the scheme from January 2003.

Dr Phelps said veterans are complex patients.

"They require greater care because of their age and life experiences, and they have a much higher rate of co-morbidity (more than one disease or ailment at the same time) than other patients," Dr Phelps said.

"Their special needs deserve special attention from the Government but, to date, it has not been forthcoming."

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

Sarah Crichton (02) 6270 5472 / (0419) 440 076

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