President’s update: Federal Council, Medical Costs Finder, Medicare, AMA25 and our calls for sweeteners in the federal budget

Hello and happy Friday to you all,

Your AMA Federal Council met last Friday and Saturday in our national AMA offices in Canberra. Your federal councillors are such an inspiring group, and the meeting was really invigorating — a strong reminder of the important work we do at the AMA to protect doctors and build a better healthcare system for patients. We got through a lot of business including finalising several policy positions (you’ll hear more about these over the next few weeks); a great workshop on workforce issues, and good discussions with the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority (IHACPA) and the medical board to better inform our advocacy. I never cease to be amazed by the breadth and depth of issues covered by the AMA.

Federal Council formally adopted the updated World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki which affirms the ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Many of you will know this original declaration stems from the previous Declaration of Geneva, which itself stemmed from the horrors aired in the Nuremberg Trials following World War II. While technologies like artificial intelligence and big data were unimaginable in the mid-20th century, the principles of human dignity in research remain and we continue to affirm this in medical research, and keeping the Declaration up-to-date and relevant to modern practice is an important part of the work at the WMA.

Federal Council was treated to a presentation from IHACPA, bringing us all up to speed on the ins and outs of health funding, and we also met the new chair of the Medical Board of Australia, Dr Susan O’Dwyer. Our council certainly didn’t hold back, pressing Dr O’Dwyer on issues of importance to doctors including local and international training pathways, complaints handling, and scope of practice.

We also talked about advocacy priorities for the year including improving trust in immunisation, medical workforce planning, support for doctors-in-training, LGBTQIASB+ care, value-based healthcare and more, which we will continue to update you on over coming weeks.

Last Sunday saw the government announce a commitment of $7 million to upgrade the Medical Costs Finder website, should they win the upcoming federal election. While we welcome moves to encourage transparency for patients, we especially welcome the commitment to place stronger obligations on insurers to provide data showing how much they contribute to the costs of care and out-of-pocket costs. We have a long way to go in ensuring the viability of our private health system, which our recent budget submission showed, including the need for a private health system authority to keep an eye on the sector.

I met with the Department of Health on Monday to further discuss the government’s commitment of $8.5 billion for Medicare and general practice. We continue to be involved in these high-level discussions to help shape the final outcome of this commitment.

On Thursday this week we launched our public and preventive health component of our budget submission calling again for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to help curb the growing obesity issue in Australia, the flow-on effects of which could cost the health system $38 billion over the next four years if nothing is done. We know there is support in the Australian public for a tax on these sugary drinks, and we need our politicians to step-up and show some spine on the issue. It’ll help Australians to live healthier lives, and it will reduce pressures on the health system — and budget.

I hope you are all starting to make plans to join us in Adelaide this August for the AMA25 conference. We’ll have a keynote from former Australian of the year Dr James Muecke — who is also a strong advocate for a tax on sugary drinks — and we will have opportunities for plenty of socialising with our Gala Dinner hosted by renowned entertainer Tim Campbell. Early bird registration is open now, so get your tickets!

I’m back in Canberra again next week for the federal budget. We’ll be at Parliament House next Tuesday to go over the budget papers, and we’ll see how the budget stacks up against our submitted budget priorities. We’ll have analysis over the coming weeks so stay tuned for more!

I’ll be back in Rounds with an update next Friday. Until then stay well and safe.