Pre-budget submission launched
This week we launched our pre-budget submission at the National Press Club, calling for sustainable and evidence-based solutions to address the pressures facing the healthcare system.
The submission calls for reforms and additional funding across the sector, including for public hospitals, public health, private health, general practice, and workforce.
On general practice the submission calls for reform to the Medicare rebate structure to better support GPs doctors to take care of their patients. General practice is the foundation of our system and helps keep people well and out of hospital, but it is being asked to do more with a funding model that doesn’t reflect the reality of patient care.
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.
On private healthcare, we recognise the strain the sector is facing. We are calling for reform to ensure private health insurance provides value, is transparent, and is appropriately managed.
Our submission calls on the government to improve access to hospital-in-the-home services for privately insured patients. We are proposing the government work with stakeholders to develop and mandate a minimum payable benefit for out-of-hospital models of care in the private health system. This should be underpinned by legislative arrangements that enshrine patient safety, protect patient choice, and maintain clinical autonomy.
Our calls for an independent umpire to oversee the private system continue. This independent umpire would have the capacity, objectivity, and expertise to ensure the system evolves in line with government policy, balancing the interests of patients, day hospitals, private hospitals, private health insurers, medical device manufacturers, and doctors. It would also provide a platform for all the stakeholders in the sector to come together and agree on the necessary once-in-a-generation reforms required to ensure the future viability of private healthcare in Australia.
Earlier this year we welcomed additional funding from the federal government for the new National Health Reform Agreement. But we know the public hospital system is still struggling as evidenced by our most recent public hospital report card. So we continue to call for reform and funding to improve performance and measures to address exit block.
We are calling on the federal government to take prevention seriously and look to evidence-based measures to reduce the growing burden of chronic disease, with overweight and obesity having overtaken smoking as the leading modifiable risk factor contributing to Australia’s disease burden.
A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is a win-win policy for decision makers as it will raise revenue to support public health initiatives. It would deliver both a clear message to consumers that the product is unhealthy and a tangible deterrent in the form of higher prices. An appropriately designed tax can also incentivise manufacturers to reduce the sugar content in their products.
On workforce we are calling for an independent health workforce planning agency to provide robust, data-driven insights into current and future workforce needs, enabling more responsive and targeted policy interventions. We would also like to see the Specialist Training Program (STP) expanded to increase specialist training places and improve access to care for patients.
And we would like to see medical training a key focus of the next National Health Reform Agreement by including commitments from each jurisdiction to provide adequate numbers of prevocational and specialist training places, based on the modelling and advice provided through the AMA’s proposed independent health workforce planning agency.
