Health Minister Sussan Ley has left the door open for more changes to planned Medicare reforms after dumping a controversial GP rebate. <\/p>\n
Ms Ley - who late last year replaced Peter Dutton in the job - has scrapped plans to cut a Medicare rebate for short GP visits, abandoning an estimated $1.3 billion in planned savings. Just before Christmas, the government dumped a $7 co-payment measure for GP visits. <\/p>\n
She says the government is still committed to a $5 cut to Medicare rebates for general patients from July 1, and a freeze on Medicare rebate indexation through to mid-2018. <\/p>\n
But the minister has promised to consult widely on health reform, and doctors still have concerns about both those measures, particularly the $5 co-payment. <\/p>\n
\"Look, it is still government policy. That doesn't mean I'm not keen to hear people's views about it,\" she told the ABC on Friday. <\/p>\n
\"I will be working with them in how we refine programs the details of the co-payment, but the principle of the co-payment is sound.\" <\/p>\n
Ms Ley, who has begun setting up meetings with key crossbenchers and the Greens, believes her consultation process will result in a solid plan to ensure the viability of Medicare. <\/p>\n
\"The overarching principle, for me, will be: we protect bulk-billing, we maintain and improve high-quality care, we put that price ceiling into health and we make Medicare sustainable for the long term.\" <\/p>\n
Medicare is not now sustainable, with the levy raising around $10 billion while the cost is $20 billion, she said. <\/p>\n
Ms Ley does not believe that simply raising the levy is the answer to solving structural issues in Medicare. <\/p>\n
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Universal health care still at risk: King<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Health Minister Sussan Ley has left the door open for more changes to planned Medicare reforms after dumping a controversial GP rebate. Ms Ley - who late last year replaced Peter Dutton in the job - has scrapped plans to cut a Medicare rebate for short GP visits, abandoning an estimated $1.3 billion in planned savings Continue reading