The government could backtrack on its Medicare rebate freeze in the upcoming budget, the ABC reports.
The broadcaster says it was told by a Cabinet minister that the move was needed to ensure Labor couldn’t run another ‘Mediscare’ campaign that cost the Coalition seats in last July’s election.
Unwinding the rebates, which were frozen in the 2014 budget, could cost as much as $3 billion, the ABC reports.
The national broadcaster notes that Health Minister Greg Hunt didn’t rule out the possibility of an end to the rebate freeze when he was asked about it on the ABC’s AM programme today.
“The prime minister has said and I have said that it’s an item that we would be willing to review and we are willing to review, subject to a very clear set of reforms that will help make the system stronger and better,” the ABC quotes Hunt as saying.
Labor brought in a freeze on Medicare rebates as a “temporary” measure in 2013 as part of a budget savings plan.
After the Coalition took power later that year, it proposed reforms including a $7 co-payment for a doctor’s appointment.
Although those proposals were eventually scrapped, the Coalition continued Labor’s “temporary” freeze and recently extended it to 2019-20.
The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) sets out how much the government will contribute, via Medicare, toward the cost of a medical service. Services often cost more than the MBS amount.
Although health insurers often partially cover this ‘out-of-pocket’ difference in cost and rebate, people without cover have to find the funds themselves.
Doctors argue that the MSB vastly underestimates the cost of many medical services. Meanwhile, the government complains that healthcare costs are eating up more and more of the budget.