Transcript: Federal AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen post-budget doorstop

Dr DANIELLE MCMULLEN: I'm Dr Danielle McMullen, President of the Australian Medical Association. Tonight we saw $25 billion of much-needed additional funding for our public hospitals. We're really pleased, after years of our Clear the Hospital Logjam campaign to see that funding committed to, but our modelling shows it may not be enough and the pressure is really on both state and territory and Commonwealth governments to get that money flowing and make sure Australians have access to the hospital care they need. 

We were pleased to see the introduction of a three-year-old health check through your GP. GPs are central to the care and well-being of young families, and those early check-ups are critical to making sure that your young child is growing up strong and building that connection with a family doctor.

But there's not much else to celebrate tonight. We didn't see the reforms that we need to see across Medicare more broadly. We need to see a modernisation of Medicare rebates to make sure that no matter how long you spend with your GP, you get a fair rebate.

Urgent Care Centres and targeted bulk billing in certain geographic areas are not long-term solutions. We need to see true reform of Medicare.

And in private health insurance, we are concerned that cuts to the rebate for over 65s may lead them to dropping or ditching their private health insurance, putting additional strain on our already stretched public hospitals.

We need to see a private health system authority to drive the broad reforms that would really drive better value for money for Australians who hold private health insurance.

Thanks.