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Albanese’s health promises must be fulfilled

A list of promises made by the ALP in the lead-up to the election is still missing a commitment to fair 50-50 public hospital funding.

A list of promises made by the ALP in the lead-up to the election is still missing a commitment to fair 50-50 public hospital funding. 

The AMA’s journal—the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA)—looks to the health promises of the Albanese government. 

In an Insight+ article this week MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell provides a list of the health  “promises we must hold Anthony Albanese to”. The ALP made a number of commitments in the lead-up to the 2022 federal election including the creation of an Australian Centre for Disease Control. 

The major costed promise by the ALP is the commitment for almost a billion dollars to bolster primary care via $220 million in grants to GPs to upgrade practices, and $750 million for the creation of a Strengthening Medicare Fund, which will be spent based on the recommendations of the  Strengthening Medicare Taskforce in which the AMA will play a key advisory role. This follows the AMA’s advocacy in its ‘Modernise Medicare’ campaign during the 2022 federal election. 

The AMA continues however to call on the Albanese government to commit to permanent 50-50 funding of public hospitals and the removal of the 6.5% activity cap, while calls also grow from state and territory leaders for the Federal Government to commit to the AMA’s funding plan. 

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