Greens Primary Health Care Policy: A Welcome Change of Direction

The Doctors Reform Society of Australia
PO Box 591
Ermington NSW 1700
ph (02) 9613 8305
fax (02) 9613 8305
      drs@drs.org.au

Greens Policy: A Change indirection for Primary Health Care

“Whilst the new Greens policies to support Medicare item numbers and bulk billing incentives would bring some immediate relief to patients struggling to access affordable primary care, it is the longer-term goal of establishing entirely public Primary Health Care centres that could be the gamechanger our health care system badly needs” says Dr Scott Douglas, President of the Doctors Reform Society.

“Fee-for-service is not an efficient or equitable approach to providing high quality health care. It will always create distortions in provider distribution and risks over-servicing. It has led to unaffordable copayments for many patients.  Health care is not a market and should not be treated as such.”

“Current ALP efforts to move existing private sector Primary Care funding away from fee-for-service are also to be commended, but the DRS calls on the ALP to go further and work with the Greens to introduce a fully salaried public model” said Dr Douglas.

“Salaried Primary Health Care is also the equitable option for General Practitioners. Much attention has been focused on the disparities in income between different medical specialties in private practice, however it is less recognised that GP pay and conditions are also far worse than their state funded public sector salaried colleagues.”

“The Greens policy may seem groundbreaking, but the basic principle should be familiar to any Australian who has been cared for in a public hospital: high quality health care without any out-of-pocket costs.” said Dr Douglas. “It’s high time that it also be applied to Primary Health Care.”

“Similarly, the benefits of publicly funded, integrated, multidisciplinary health care have been abundantly demonstrated Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Care Organisations and in Community Health Centres in Victoria over the past 50 years.”

“The DRS calls on all members of parliament, and all stakeholders in the medical profession, to work with the Greens to bring this policy into reality.”