The government has announced changes to Medicare bulk billing, which could result in patients paying up to an additional $62 for diagnostic and pathology tests, including blood tests, X-rays and pap smears.
The changes remove bulk billing “incentives” for private pathology companies. These companies have threatened to cease bulk billing, meaning patients would need to pay the fees up front or the companies would raise prices by charging a gap fee.
This would have a disproportionate impact on the income poor and the chronically ill. And, as the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation has pointed out, it would “further disadvantage Aboriginal peoples” by creating additional barriers to treatment.
These changes once again demonstrate how determined this government is to undermine public funding of healthcare. The changes also indicate the extent to which Australian healthcare has already descended down the path of a for-profit privatised system, when the government can spend $650 million on “incentives” to highly profitable private pathology companies rather than spending the money on actual health care.
Protests will be held across the country on 20 February – demanding an end to the cuts and free and accessible pathology.
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