By JESSE GRAHAM
AN EMERALD doctor has condemned the Abbott Government’s moves against Medicare, saying that the recently-pulled changes to rebates had shattered his faith in the party.
Dr George Somers told the Mail last week that he had been a supporter of La Trobe MP Jason Wood and the Liberal Party for over four decades.
However, Dr Somers said he could no longer support the government after repeated moves to reduce Medicare rebates, which would potentially leave doctors or patients out of pocket.
The final straw for Dr Somers was a proposed change to Level A and B GP consultations in the Medicare Benefits Schedule that would have seen patients receive $20 less in Medicare rebates for a consultation of 6-10 minutes.
Though the changes were supposed to begin yesterday (Monday 19 January), new Health Minister Sussan Ley dropped the rebate changes on Thursday 15 January, citing the need for an alternative.
Ms Ley and Mr Wood said the proposal was meant to encourage doctors to spend more time with patients, as well as increasing savings for the government.
Dr Somers said the rebate change would have done more harm than good.
“The patients will demand that the doctor extend the consultation to 10 minutes, which is illegal – it is illegal for us to itemise a consultation so that a patient can claim it on Medicare for a time that is longer than necessary,” he said.
“The important thing is that, if doctors are stretching 7-8 minute consultations to 10 minutes, that’s two to three patients a day less for doctors – it’s going to mean that people are going to have to wait days longer to see their doctor.”
Dr Somers praised Ms Ley’s decision to pull the changes, but said the move was too little, too late for the government’s public image after incidents such as the proposal for a $7 GP co-payment, which was also dropped.
“It’s unfortunate how much damage this has done,” he said.
“Jason Wood has been an excellent member for the area, but it’s unfortunate that he’s part of a tainted government.”
“I have been a conservative voter for the last 40 years, and this has changed my mind – I have lost confidence in this government.”
He said that his private practice – the Emerald Medical Centre – had pre-empted the co-payment and the rebate changes by tightening the criteria on who could have their visits bulk-billed.
