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In the fourth of our 5 questions in 5 days, we asked our federal election candidates: This election has been dubbed “a referendum on Medicare”. What is your position on the future of the universal healthcare scheme?
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Candidates who didn’t respond – Whitlam: Susan Pinsuti (CDP), Marcus Hewitt (Liberal).
CUNNINGHAM
Cath Blakey (Greens)
The Greens see health as an investment, not a cost.
We will commit to funding over $4 billion dollars into funding public hospitals to 2020.
The Australian Greens Denticare plan will invest $6.6 billion over the forward estimates to provide essential dental care to millions of Australians. It’s crazy that public health stops at your mouth.
Australians doing it tough need Denticare. The Greens will also reverse the freeze on Medicare indexation to provide greater access to all Australians to bulk billing.
And we’ll legislate to commit the Commonwealth to sharing the cost of hospitals with the states.
This will lock in a long-term funding formula to prevent reckless cuts in the future and stop cost-shifting between governments.
We will phase out the wasteful private health insurance rebate, freeing up $10 billion in the next four years and tens of billions over the next decade, to be re-invested into health and hospitals.
Nathan Waters (Science)
The Science Party supports further investment in Medicare as a universal health care scheme for all Australians.
In addition we plan to classify ageing as a disease in order to stimulate research and investment into curing ageing and all of the associated complications directly correlated to cell deterioration within the human body.
Michelle Blicavs (Liberal)
The Turnbull Coalition Government guarantees funding for Medicare. We will never privatise Medicare. The suggestion that we would has been a disgraceful lie that the Labor Party are using to scare people because they have no economic plan to offer the Australian people.
This financial year alone, the Turnbull Liberal Government will spend $71.4 billion on health, including giving the states and territories $18 billion to help fund their hospitals.
Public hospital funding under the Coalition Government continues to increase every year, and will grow by $3.9 billion, or 22.7%, over the four years to 2019-20.
The Coalition Government is providing over $30 billion funding for public hospitals in NSW over 5 years. There are no cuts. Our hospital funding agreement is about real money which we can afford.
Medicare bulk billing rates are at a record high under the Turnbull Coalition Government at 85%. Under, the last Labor Government, bulk billing averaged 75%. The facts speak for themselves - the Coalition Government is out-performing Labor on Medicare.
Michelle Ryan (CDP)
CDP recognises that a ‘healthy’ nation requires an efficient and affordable health system for all Australians. We do not support co-payments, or co-payments by stealth through the proposed freeze on Medicare funding.
I want to see a healthy Illawarra, and for that vision to be realised, we need an accessible health system. To put it simply: no cuts to Medicare, and end the freeze.
Sharon Bird (Labor)
People in the Illawarra will remember that at the last election, Tony Abbott promised “no cuts to health”. As soon as they were elected, the Liberals made massive cuts to health.
In their first term in office the Liberals:
- Froze Medicare benefits for six years to drive down bulk billing and make patients pay more.
- Cut bulk billing payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging. Scrapped the Child Dental Benefits Scheme.
- Announced cuts to the Medicare Safety Net. Hiked the cost of prescriptions.
- Established a secret taskforce to privatise the Medicare payments system.
- Handed control of the national cancer registry to Telstra.
Local people have been affected by every Liberal budget cut to health and their attempts to destroy Medicare and make patients pay more. If Malcolm Turnbull is re- elected Medicare will be finished.
If Labor is elected we will unfreeze the rebates to GPs, we will reinstate bulk-billing incentives for blood tests and X-rays, we will keep the price down on medicine and we will properly fund our hospitals.
John Flanagan (NCPP)
Since its introduction, Medicare has been a success. This is despite rising costs
At the Labor Party campaign launch on 19 June 2016, the Labor Party leader, Bill Shorten, declared the election was to be a referendum on the future of Medicare. He said that the Government planned to privatize Medicare.
There could be some truth in that comment. From a philosophical point of view, the Liberal Party has never been in favour of Medicare.
The Liberal leader, Malcolm Turnbull, has said that he would never privatize Medicare.
However politicians do break their promises.
It would be a huge negative step if there were to be any sort of privatization of Medicare.
WHITLAM
Tom Hunt (Greens)
The Greens have a plan to bring dental care into Medicare to benefit millions of Australians who can’t afford proper treatment.
We are committed to increased spending on health and will invest an extra $664 million in Medicare to keep costs down and ensure that everyone can get the health care they need.
We will reverse the freeze on Medicare indexation to provide greater access to all Australians to bulk bill. The Greens support Medicare as a universal, publicly funded health insurance system for all.
Jan Mandelson (Nationals)
I don't necessarily agree it is a referendum on Medicare, I believe it is a referendum on who will best manage our Nations economy.
I stand with what both Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce have said. Medicare is a core government service and will never, ever be privatised.
Labor is promoting fear and lies in a desperate and disgraceful attempt to scare voters particularly the elderly and disadvantaged.
Should I be elected to represent the people of Whitlam, I also promise, to never, ever vote in favour of the privatisation of Medicare.
Wayne Hartman (NCPP)
As per John Flanagan’s earlier response.
Stephen Jones (Labor)
Labor will always fight to protect Medicare, it is in our DNA. Our universal healthcare system is the envy of the world and we will defend it all costs from the Coalition’s cuts and privatisation plans.
We want to make sure that it is your Medicare card, not your credit, that determines the care you receive. That is why we will unfreeze the Medicare rebate and ensure that patients in the Illawarra and the Southern Highlands aren’t slugged with a GP Tax by the backdoor which the Coalition calls a “co-payment”.
Labor will also reverse the Government’s bulk billing incentive cuts for pathology and radiology and plans to increase the cost of medicines so that people can avoid the life-saving tests and medicines they need.
We will develop a plan for regional and rural health and establish a Healthcare Reform Commission to reduce inequality and maldistribution of the health workforce.
GILMORE
Steve Ryan (CDP)
Medicare needs to be protected. Families need access to essential medical services.
The Government has frozen Medicare funding and continues to neglect funding the areas of need in NSW. We can’t trust Labor to manage Medicare.
We are promising to stop the Medicare freeze and increase infrastructure funding for more hospitals and services in low socio-economic areas and regional areas.
Ann Sudmalis (Liberal)
Medicare is safe, and will never be privatised – the Prime Minister has made that clear. All services provided by Medicare will continue to be provided by Medicare.
A key to ensuring Medicare remains able to look after the health of all Australians is making sure the economy continues to grow so people are paying the taxes needed to support the services we all want.
In the meantime the overall health budget is up 11.6 per cent percent on Labor’s last budget in 2013/14.
Spending on Medicare is up 13.4 per cent, hospitals 29.4 per cent, the PBS 9.8 per cent, mental health 11.7 per cent and aged care 25.5 per cent on 2013/14.
Carmel McCallum (Greens)
All Australians are entitled to a universal, free and accessible healthcare system.
Medicare has been a world benchmark health scheme, but has been undermined by political point-scoring and attempts to reduce the fiscal debt.
The Greens do not support a co-payment system which is privatising by stealth, and want to remove the freeze on Medicare rebates immediately, to assist the availability of bulk-billing practices.
We also want to introduce programs for increasing well-being and preventative health measures, such as a Sugar Tax, which has been proven to work,and increasing access to sport through subsidies for all children.
This will have longer-term benefits by reducing chronic disease, obesity and increasing better health outcomes.
The Greens also want to introduce a Rural Health Plan, increase funding to front-line Mental health schemes, Palliative Care and maintain the Child Dental Benefit Scheme, working towards a universal access dental scheme, essential to good health.
Fiona Phillips (Labor)
Labor believes that all Australians should be able to access health care when and where they need it – that is what Medicare is all about.
That is why Labor will restore indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule; restore the bulk billing incentives for pathology and diagnostic imaging; scrap the Turnbull Government’s price increases for medicines; stop the cuts to Medicare Safety Nets and not privatise Medicare.
Labor created Medicare and Labor will always protect Medicare.