Public healthcare in our country is supposed to be free. Its meant to be accessible to all and covered by Medicare.
“Medicare has failed to keep up with the cost of providing care.”
RACGP
So why are people raiding their retirement funds to pay for medical procedures including dental work, IVF and non-cosmetic plastic surgery?
Health practitioners have raised concerns about the 150,000 Australians who have made withdrawals from their superannuation funds to pay for medical care.
“This is robbing people of their retirement savings and it is driving up the cost of healthcare for all Australians”
They say there aren’t proper checks and balances in place for people applying for compassionate release of their super and out of pocket medical costs are only going up, with more people forced to go private due to incessant wait times for elective surgery through the public system.
Even seeing our regular GP has become more expensive, with out-of-pocket costs increasing by 45% over the last three years. Currently, the Australian medical association recommends GPs charge $102 for a standard consultation. The Medicare rebate only covers $42.85.
According to the Australian Medical Association, Medicare has lost a cumulative $3.8billion in funding and is unable to keep up with inflation or average cost of living due to the Medicare rebate freeze implemented in 2013 by the Labor Government.
This has meant that many GP practices that did bulk bill patients have either had to close down or introduce out of pocket costs.
We need to fix our medical system so that people don’t have to choose between missing out on essential care now or being broke in retirement.
Medicare needs funding that keeps up with the rate of inflation and encourages doctors to bulkbill for patients in need.
Have your say by completing our health x cost of living survey which will inform the Greens policies going forward.
The Greens currently have a plan to reduce public wait list times by increasing funding for public hospitals and investing more into preventative healthcare. We will also put dental care into Medicare and expand provisions for mental health care. In 2024 mental health was the most common reason for someone to visit a GP.
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