|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 Home News General
Crean Promises New Deal with States on Health20 August 2003Labor leader Simon Crean has pledged to sign a new agreement with the states to strengthen healthcare if he wins the next election. Mr Crean also offered his support to the Health Services Union Medicare campaign today joining the union's delegation to sing a protest song at the ACTU Congress in Melbourne and signing a petition. "The reality is individually all of us are opposed to what John Howard is doing to Medicare, but collectively we can save it,'' he said. "That's why the priority in terms of my Budget speech in reply was to lay down a means by which we could retain affordable health care in this country - save Bulk Billing, save Medicare. "I've indicated a commitment to lift the patient rebate to 100%. That will mean an increase across the board of $5 for every patient that's bulk-billed. "But in addition to that, recognising that there are particular pockets in which there have been dramatic declines in bulk billing, additional incentives to recognise the costs - the costs associated with delivering in particular areas; additional incentives to bring it back up." "This is the plan, delegates, to save Medicare, to restore Bulk Billing, to ensure that your right is protected, that which you've contributed to is preserved. "But the health care equation doesn't just stop with Bulk Billing. The reality is if Bulk Billing goes, where does a patient go if they can't find a doctor that Bulk Bills? They go to the emergency ward at the local hospital. No wonder we've getting additional pressure on the public hospitals. "But what's the John Howard Government's solution? It's to say to the governments of the states, 'You've got to pay for that'. "What I say, is that if we're to seriously address health care it's got to be about a new partnership with the states, not just cost shifting to them. The new partnership isn't just about money; it's about reform within our system. "I'm committed to doing a new deal, a new partnership with the states to ensure that on the back of our commitment to restore Bulk Billing and save Medicare we also get decent hospital care in this country as well. The country deserves it; they're entitled to it." |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
|
