RELATED CONTENT: GP says Medicare rebate freeze could bring down government
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Gilmore ALP candidate Fiona Phillips says the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cannot be trusted on Medicare.
“People in regional areas, such as the Shoalhaven and South Coast, will be the hardest hit by this program of cuts, privatisation and the Americanisation of our health system,” Ms Phillips said.
The party has accused Mr Turnbull of making “hollow” denials of a future Medicare privatisation.
In turn, the Coalition has accused Labor of running a scare campaign.
“Privatising the Medicare payments system is just one piece of the Liberals’ plan to Americanise our health services,” Labor’s Doug Cameron said.
“Don’t look at what they say, look at what they do.
“Malcolm Turnbull is freezing the GP rebate which the RACGP says will force doctors to end bulk billing.
“He is increasing the cost of medicine by cutting $1.3 billion from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), causing prescriptions to rise by up to $5 more per script.
“He is increasing the costs of vital diagnostic tests with X-Rays costing up to $52 more and mammograms up to $100 more.
“His government has just tasked the Productivity Commission via a scoping paper with finding out ways to privatise more Human Services. The Liberals have already sold off the national cancer registry to Telstra and are moving to privatise Australian Hearing.
“Mr Turnbull was happy to stand up in Question Time and spruik the privatisation of the payments system in February. The evidence is there in documents released under Freedom of Information that they considered the privatisation of the payments system.
This is unequivocal evidence that the Liberals are determined to provide their big business mates with access to the public Medicare system,” said Senator Cameron.
“The privatisation taskforce, and the series of cuts to Medicare services, indicate the attitude of the Abbott-Turnbull Government to Medicare. They don’t like it. They never have. They want an American-style, two-tier health system. The only thing standing in their way is Labor and the anger of ordinary Australians at the prospect of the iconic Medicare system being cut up and sold off,” said Senator Cameron.