Coming back to Australia after living in the UK, it was a shock to see how far the Australian health system had gone down the route of user pays. While living in the city you have a chance of finding a GP who will bulk bill if you aren’t on social security benefits, or a pensioner, but it is almost impossible to find one in rural and regional Australia.
The Greens have launched their ‘GP For Free’ plan that looks at providing bulk billing GP clinics across Australia at a cost of $5 billion a year for the next ten years. The plan proposes combining bulk billing GPs, dentists, psychologists and registered nurses together at free local health care clinics.
The Greens have said they aim to tax ‘big corporations that are profiting off price gouging during a cost-of-living crisis’ to fund the scheme.
‘Take ExxonMobil, for example, a big multinational brought in $15 billion of revenue last year and paid $0 in tax,’ said leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt.
‘Now, when a nurse in Ballina is paying more tax than a non-national, something is wrong.’
Six free clinics
Under their proposal a government area such as Richmond would see six health clinics open with the expectation that this would take pressure off hospital emergency rooms and encourage people who put off visiting a GP due to costs, to see the doctor before serious health consequences impact them.
‘Three of the clinics will be located in the Tweed LGA (Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah and the Tweed Coast), two clinics will be located in the Ballina LGA (Lennox Head and Ballina) and one clinic will be located in the Byron LGA.’
‘Our plan is to build a minimum of six free clinics in every electorate across the country,’ explained Mr Bandt.
The Greens are also proposing to triple bulk billing incentives and the plan ‘includes support for the trainee GP workforce to ensure that GP trainees receive equal pay to their hospital trainee counterparts’.
Parliamentary Budget Office analysis of the proposal has noted that costing for the Greens’ proposal is ‘highly uncertain’ according to a report by The Guardian. But the proposal has been welcomed by the Royal Australian College of GPs, Mr Bandt told The Echo.
‘In a wealthy country like ours everyone should be able to see a GP, dentist or psychologist when they need to, but more and more people are putting off desperately needed health appointments because they can’t afford it,’ said Mr Bandt.
‘The Greens will make big corporations pay their fair share of tax so that people in Richmond can see a doctor, dentist, or psychologist for free.’
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