AUSTRALIA’S biggest health union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), is celebrating the defeat of the Tory Abbott government, which has had to cancel its proposed GP tax after a tireless campaign by nurses and midwives who warned it would destroy Medicare.
ANMF Federal Secretary, Lee Thomas, said yesterday: ‘Our members have fought hard against Abbott’s plans to introduce co-payments for basic health services.
‘From the start, we all knew it was flawed policy that would hurt all Australians, particularly families, the elderly and those who are some of the most vulnerable in our communities, ultimately resulting in the dismantling of Australia’s system of universal healthcare.
‘The ANMF warned Abbott that a GP tax would merely shift health costs on to individual patients at a time when Australians suffer some of the highest out of pocket health costs in the OECD.
‘We have always maintained that Australians should have access to quality healthcare when they need it, where they need it. It shouldn’t be available to those who have the money to pay for it, otherwise we will end up with an Americanised two-tiered health system, where you only get treatment if you can afford to pay for it.
‘While nurses and midwives are obviously relieved that the Abbott Government has abandoned his plans for co-payments, they remain reserved about further challenges to the health system. The Government must commit to ceasing its attacks on universal healthcare and outline how it will work with the ANMF and other health groups, through genuine consultation, to strengthen our public health system.’
Well done the Australian trade unions. What an example for the British trade unions to follow!
The co-payment scheme would have required doctors to decide whether or not to charge patients an extra A$5 ($4.10 US, £2.60 UK) for a visit.
Under Australian Medicare, healthcare is provided by both private and government institutions. The government funds its Medicare system via a 1.5% levy on everyone except low-income earners.
Under the proposed scheme, doctors would have seen their Medicare rebates for some patients cut by A$5, with doctors given the option to pass that cost on to the patient. The government claimed the scheme would save A$3.5bn over five years but trade unions said the cost to patients would rise.
Professor Heather Yeatman, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, said the scheme was an attempt to force GPs ‘to do the dirty work of the government’.
Australian Medical Association President Dr Brian Owler welcomed the scrapping of the scheme, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the policy was ‘never one which was going to improve general practice or make the healthcare system more sustainable’.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament he, as a former health minister, should have known better than to attempt ‘major health reform without the strong co-operation and support of the medical profession’.
However, despite the Government’s defeat and the decision to scrap the fee, Health Minister Sussan Ley pledged further ‘reforms’ yesterday, saying that Medicare was growing at an unsustainable rate and ‘doing nothing was not an option’.
‘We recognise that we cannot introduce reforms to build a strong, sustainable Medicare without the support from the public and the Parliament,’ Ley said.
Shadow Health minister, Catherine King, said the Government was still determined to destroy Medicare, saying: ‘We know there are still $1.3 billion on the table of cuts to general practice, which will be passed on to patients’.
Nevertheless, the Australian trade unions have just won a major battle and have shown every indication that they will win the health war!
Their successful struggle should make the do-nothing leaders of the British TUC shrink back in shame. However, they will do no such thing. They will carry on allowing our NHS to be cut to pieces and then thrown piece by piece to the privateers.
There is only one way to deal with the UK TUC – that is to sack it at once and replace it with a leadership that is determined to defend the NHS and defeat the ruling class onslaught on it.
