Federal AMA blueprint for urgent healthcare reform
Ahead of next week’s federal budget we have delivered a practical and fully costed plan to government with solutions to address the issues in the healthcare system and put it back on a sustainable path.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the budget next Tuesday. Our pre-budget submission calls on the government to deliver urgent, targeted investment and reforms to ease pressure on patients, support doctors and restore system capacity.
In general practice we are calling on the government to recognise that the needs of today’s patients are different to when Medicare was introduced. Patients are older and have more complex chronic conditions. Their care takes more time and more coordination, but Medicare still largely rewards short, simple consultations. We need to rethink the rebate structure that was designed for a different time, so GPs can spend the time they need to spend with patients. We are also asking the government to strengthen and expand the Workforce Incentive Program, including uncapping and indexing payments.
Meanwhile the private health system is struggling and not delivering value for money for consumers. They face ever increasing premiums with the ratio of premiums paid by insurers to patients falling to 84 per cent in 2024–25. We are calling for a minimum payout ratio of 90 per cent along with a rethink of how the system is managed. We have called on the federal government to establish an independent health system authority to close the gaps in the private health regulatory environment. An independent body would have the objectivity, and expertise to oversee reform while balancing the interests of patients, hospitals, insurers, and doctors.
In 2024, obesity overtook smoking as the biggest preventable disease in Australia. Yet we continue to treat prevention as an optional, a nice-to-have when the budget allows.
We continue to call for a tax on selected sugar-sweetened beverages at a rate of 50 cents per 100 grams of sugar, which would raise the price of the average 375 millilitre can of soft drink by around 20 cents.
