AMA Federal Budget Submission 2004-05 - AMA calls on Government to invest heavily to ensure long-term sustainability, fairness and equity of Australian health system

Dr Glasson said the Government must look beyond the next election and commit adequate funding and deliver responsible progressive health policies to ensure access and affordability to high quality health services for all Australians, no matter where they live and no matter their socio-economic background.

"The greatest challenge now facing the Australian health system is to ensure there are enough doctors and other health professionals with the necessary skills to serve the growing and ageing Australian population," Dr Glasson said.

"A combination of poor medical workforce policy from successive Federal governments, the medical indemnity crisis, and high practice costs is forcing more doctors out of medical practice in towns and suburbs all over Australia.

"The problem is far worse in regional and outer-suburban areas.  The workforce shortage is a direct consequence of restricting the number of medical students and medical provider numbers - together with the underfunding of Medicare - especially since the mid-1990s.

"Recommendations to address this and other major problems confronting the health system, doctors and patients are set out in detail in the AMA Budget submission," Dr Glasson said.

The AMA Federal Budget Submission 2004-2005 was formally lodged with Treasury on 20 October 2003 in keeping with the Treasurer's deadline for submissions.

Key recommendations include:

• A strategy to increase the medical work force - GPs and specialists - and encourage sufficient numbers to take on country and outer-urban practice for long periods.  This would involve compensation through the Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) to offset inadequate rebates and workforce constraints worth up to $1.4 billion since 1995-96
• A minimum extra $250 million to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
• A cost analysis to determine proper funding to contain Hepatitis C
• $45 million over three years for tobacco control
• $113 million to restore funding to the Australian Standard Vaccination Schedule for childhood vaccinations against pneumococcal and varicella
• $100 million over three years to enable research into dementia issues and the development of strategies to address the dementia epidemic.  This would involve the Government recognising dementia as a National Health Priority Area
• $95 million to restore the level and availability of medical services to veterans under the Repatriation Private Patient Scheme (RPPS).

The AMA strongly endorses the Government's 30 per cent private health insurance rebate as an effective policy to maintain balance between the public and private health sectors.

The AMA opposes the Government's pursuit of a higher patient co-payment for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).  Such a policy would harm the poorest and sickest in the community and pass costs on to other parts of the health system, especially our public hospitals.

The AMA urges the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to commence research into the causes and contributing factors towards public hospital access block and emergency department overcrowding.

The AMA urges governments to cooperate on:

• Improving the interface between hospitals and primary and aged care services
• Steps to improve the ongoing provision of care for older Australians between aged care, health care and rehabilitative care
• The implementation of a national pharmaceutical expenditure program during the life of the current Australian Health Care Agreements.

The AMA calls on the Government to urgently revise the MBS to provide appropriate incentives for doctors to provide medical services to residents of residential aged care facilities, recognise the complex care needs of residents, and work with the sector in developing an environment that will encourage skilled workers back into the aged care sector.

Dr Glasson said good health policy is something that unites the Australian community and must be invested in appropriately by the Government.

"I urge the Government to invest heavily in the long term future of the Australian health system so it can cope with the demands of the next generation of Australians.

"Medicare, our public hospitals and our medical workforce are costly but necessary national icons.

"There is no better time than the 2004-05 Federal Budget for the Government to tell the Australian people it is serious about keeping them," Dr Glasson said.

The AMA Federal Budget Submission 2004-05 is on the AMA website at

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

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