Fed: Govt set to announce Medicare shake-up next week

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2003
Fed: Govt set to announce Medicare shake-up next week

SYDNEY, April 21 AAP - The federal government is reportedly set to unveil a substantial
shake-up of Medicare in which middle and high income families will pay between $2 and
$20 to see a doctor.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports the package, worth $900 million, will be unveiled
by Prime Minister John Howard in the next week.

For the first time, people will be able to take out private insurance for doctors visits,
the paper said.

Doctors will also be paid between $1 and $6.30 extra to bulk bill pensioners and low-income
families in a bid to ensure Medicare remains a safety net for the poor.

In addition, doctors will soon be able to directly bill Medicare for the $25.05 rebate
and charge general patients an amount above that - but only if they are bulk billing pensioners
and card holders.

For patients whose doctors currently don't bulk bill, the changes will reduce the amount
they have to pay up front in the surgery from around $45 to $20.

Then instead of paying the full charge of $45 and claiming the rebate from Medicare
directly, doctors will now bill Medicare for the rebate and simply charge patients the
extra $20 at the surgery.

However the federal opposition health spokesman Stephen Smith claims the package will
destroy the universality of Medicare, leading to a two-tiered health system.

AAP ld/ge/de

KEYWORD: MEDICARE

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