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Federal Budget a chance for long-term vision for health
The AMA pre-budget submission focuses on investment in public hospitals, the private health sector, the PBS, and primary care, as well as emerging policy priority areas: aged care, mental health, and medical research.
The AMA submission calls on Government to act in a number of areas including to:
- lift funding for general practice over time to around 10 per cent as part of an effort to re-orientate the health system to focus more on general practice, with long-term savings to the health system anticipated in return;
- boost funding for public hospital services beyond levels set out in the 2020-2025 agreement, and lift public hospitals out of their current funding crisis, which is putting doctors and patients at risk;
- increase funding to the National Health and Medical Research Council for investment on fundamental health and medical research; and
- funding to resource an appropriately sized, skilled and resourced mental health workforce, addressing workforce gaps as a priority.
The AMA will release a broader policy agenda - encompassing Indigenous health, public health, prevention, medical workforce and other issues - ahead of the election.
The AMA Pre-Budget Submission 2019-20 is available at https://ama.com.au/sites/default/files/budget-submission/AMA_Budget_Submission_2019_20.pdf
