The Labor Party is “funding” Australia’s universal health program, Medicare, by simply promising nearly $ 1 billion (US $ 700 million) in election funding.
In an announcement on May 14, the centre-left Labor Party offered $ 750 million and $ 220 million to address the Morrison administration’s “rolling cuts and attacks” early in the campaign. Followed up on the commitment to “strengthen Medicare”.
$ 750 million will be spent over three years to improve patient access to GPs, increase affordability, achieve “better management” of complex conditions, and reduce hospital pressure. The purpose is that.
Workers have not provided details on how these goals will be achieved, and the party will be chaired by the Minister of Health and representatives of major medical institutions such as the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian General Practitioner. He said he would work with the newly created Task Force to serve. practitioner.
Under a $ 220 million pledge, the local GP will upgrade IT systems, improve staff skills, purchase new equipment, upgrade ventilation and infection control, and the GP will “see more patients and Other improvements to be able to provide better care.
“General practices are at the heart of Australia’s health care system,” Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese said in a statement. “Australian people trust their GP. This is an important relationship to ensure that all Australians have the quality medical care they deserve.”
Terry Burns, a former senior adviser to the two health ministers under former Prime Minister John Howard, said successive governments have promised similar funding proposals, but they are “not new.” rice field.
“Albanese is a bit like Dr. Frankenstein. He likes to bolt things to make Medicare more lively,” he told The Epoch Times. “In reality, just tinkering with Medicare doesn’t make a difference. Just spending money on Medicare to take care of Medicare is not a policy.”
Burns said the GP grant program would rarely actually expand the private GP network, calling it a “cancellation investment.”
“It’s nothing [new] Other than putting more money in the doctor’s pocket, “he added, the proposed task force, consisting of several medical institutions, emphasized how influential medical unions were in government health policy.
“Both the government and the opposition will not hurt themselves unless they first check with the president of the Australian Medical Association regarding health policy,” Burns said.
The Australian public health system addresses the issue of ongoing delays and ambulance spikes: the time patients wait in ambulances outside the hospital.
But the cause is deeper than funding, and the aging of the country is responsible for more complex medical conditions and longer treatment times.
At the same time, competing interests and poor management contribute to weakening patient outcomes.
The runaway in Queensland was previously controlled by Campbell Newman, a former LDP Prime Minister and now a candidate for the Senate.
But for Newman, the former Queensland Prime Minister had to move doctors to new contracts related to performance indicators, which was accompanied by a serious conflict with the medical union. This is a move that has seen a large number of resignation threats.
When Newman was defeated in the 2015 state elections, the next Labor administration immediately overturned his reforms, allowing the ambulance surge to surge again.
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Daniel Y. Teng is based in Sydney. He focuses on national politics, including federal politics, COVID-19 response, and relations between Australia and China. Do you have a hint? Contact him at [email protected]