Landmark investment to revamp primary care, but no immediate relief for public hospitals buckling under pressure

The budget has responded to demands for innovative solutions to address the primary care sustainability crisis, enhance vulnerable Australians’ access to GPs, and provide relief to consumers struggling with the cost of living by making medicines more affordable.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Professor Steve Robson, said the AMA had been calling on the government to make this budget a health budget and it has clearly listened.

Jim Chalmers, Treasurer of Australia, delivered “the biggest increase to the bulk billing incentive ever”, a funding boost of $3.5 billion that will help GPs provide free consultations to around 11.6 million eligible Australians including children, pensioners, and other concession card holders.

He said “All of this will help take pressure off our public hospitals and emergency departments still feeling the strain of a once in a century pandemic. And it will ensure that for millions of people, the quality of healthcare is guaranteed not by your credit card, but by your Medicare card.”

Professor Robson said “The budget outlined in some detail how the previously committed $750 million secured by the AMA as an election commitment would be spent, while also detailing significant new funding over and above this that will go straight towards addressing the viability crisis facing general practices and tackling out of pocket costs for patients,”

Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) President Dr Nicole Higgins said the budget is a win for patients.

She said “Hiking Medicare rebates this year in July and again in November is a good first step in reducing out-of-pocket costs for patients across the country at a time when it’s most needed given increasing cost of living pressures. Tripling the bulk billing incentive will help to increase access to care for those Australians who need it most and arrest the decline in bulk-billing. The new Medicare item, Level E, for consultations over 60-minutes, will improve access to care for patients with complex needs, such as those with chronic conditions and mental health issues.

“The substantial increase in the Workforce Incentive Program, or WIP, is a positive step to enable general practice to grow existing multidisciplinary care teams within general practice. This is essential support for GPs caring for people with complex chronic disease.”

The National Rural Health Alliance Chief Executive, Susanne Tegen, stated that although some progress has been made, mere superficial changes are insufficient. To better serve the 30% of Australians residing in rural and regional areas, further reforms are imperative.

“The Alliance is disappointed that significant reform of rural health care has still not been tackled, with these modest Budget measures failing to address major medical and health workforce inequities. These measures also do not allow for the innovative community-led models of multidisciplinary primary health care that are desperately needed in rural areas,” she added.

The budget also confirmed the government is proceeding with its announcement to move 325 medicines to 60-day dispensing and a 12-month prescription from the doctor.

“This is good policy that is based on the independent recommendations of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee that will save patient’s money and free up GP time,” Professor Robson said.

Importantly, the forecasts in the budget suggest total expenditure on Medicare is going to be less than had been previously expected. Yet, the society is growing in size, age and increased chronic disease.

Professor Robson emphasised “The revised projections suggest we still have not rebounded from COVID-19 while patients have also struggled to access the care they need due to cost and the failure to adequately invest in our health system. This means patients will be diagnosed later in their illness, when they are much sicker and their care needs are more complex. This will have profound implications for our public hospitals that are already buckling under pressure.

“In our discussions with the Minister for Health he clearly indicated general practices was going to be a key focus for the government and the budget has demonstrated that commitment. But there’s also a great deal of unfinished business in our health system. As the government approaches its second year in office, we know that much more work is required in areas such as public hospital funding, prevention and supporting a sustainable private health care system, and I will advocate to government on these issues every day.”

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