Federal Labor Promises Medicare Overhaul as Australian Health System Declared ‘Worst Shape’ in 40 Years

(L-R) Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan speak to media during a press conference after a National Cabinet meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on Feb. 3, 2023. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said his government intends to act on recommendations from a Medicare taskforce report that seeks an overhaul of Australia’s healthcare system but says he will discuss its funding in late April.

This comes as the federal health minister, Mark Butler, declared Australia’s primary healthcare system as the “worst shape” in 40 years, with bulk billing rates in decline and with only 14 percent of medical graduates choosing to work in general practice.

“Australians deserve access to a world-class primary care system that is designed and funded for the 21st century—a system that reflects the disease profile of an older population, including a population that has more complex chronic disease,” Butler said in a Feb. 3 media release that coincided with the first national cabinet meeting of the year.

At the national cabinet meeting on Feb. 3, state and territory leaders, along with the prime minister, considered the recommendations outlined in the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report (pdf), which included improving healthcare affordability and accessibility for Australians, support for people with chronic health conditions, and easing pressure off the strained hospital system.

The Medicare logo is seen in Sydney, Australia, on May 23, 2016. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The report also called for a person-centred approach to be the focus of the reforms, including recommendations to improve access to general practice, optimising health professionals’ scope of practice, and improving the My Health Record system.

“The report recommends supporting this with new blended funding models, integrated with the existing fee-for-service model, allowing teams of GPs, nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals to work together to deliver the care people need,” Butler said.

“The Taskforce found that strengthening primary care with a greater range of health professionals working to their full scope of practice will optimise the use of the health workforce across a stretched primary care sector. This will deliver increased access to healthcare and improved equity of outcomes in rural, regional and remote areas.”

Albanese said integrating the systems so that patients have better and earlier—and thereby cheaper—health care was the key to moving forward with reforming the primary care system.

“We all understand the challenge … for improving our primary health care networks, how that interacts with the hospital system, and there’s absolutely a commitment to work on policy outcomes as the starting point,” Albanese told said on Feb. 3.

Peak Medical Body Not Yet Convinced

However, the Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson said while he welcomed the review, there was nothing in the report to ensure Australians struggling to see a GP or facing long operation waitlists were seen any quicker or more affordable.

“There is absolutely nothing in the report that will provide anything immediately, and that is what we need,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Australians can see the crisis the health system is in, and we were surprised to see nothing more come out of (national cabinet).

“We had the most powerful political leaders in the country all in one room, and it doesn’t seem like they could agree on anything.”

Robson added that Australians were tired of Federal Labor blaming the previous Coalition government for the problems in health care.

“You’ve been in government long enough now; it’s 2023; you need to own this problem; you need to have a national plan,” Robson said.

Albanese said that healthcare reform was “the first priority issue for 2023” for Australia’s leaders.

“We all agree ... part of the issues are people turning up at emergency departments because they don’t have other options,” Albanese said.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler also announced the federal government’s commitment of $750 million to the Strengthening Medicare Fund—a commitment Albanese took to the election.

“Medicare has been the crowning achievement of our health system for 40 years, but it is time for reform. Now is the time to ensure Medicare delivers the kind of primary care Australians expect, both now and into the future,” Butler said.

Sharp Increase in GP Waiting Times: ABS Data

In November 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released data that showed 39.1 percent of people who needed urgent medical care during the 2021-2022 financial year waited 24 hours or more to see a GP.

While people living in outer regional, remote or very remote areas were more likely to wait 24 hours or more to see a GP for urgent medical care.

Undated image of medical professionals performing neurosurgery at the Ramsay Health Care-operated Greenslopes Private Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. (AAP Image/Ramsay Health Care)

Additionally, the ABS found that there were a proportion of people who waited longer than they felt was acceptable to get an appointment with a GP or a specialist.

“The proportion of people who could not see their preferred GP on one or more occasions increased to 32.8% in 2021-22, from 25.5% in 2020-21,” according to the ABS.

Moreover, 16.6 percent of people saw at least one health professional for their own mental health in 2021-2022, similar to 2020-21 of 15.8 percent.

“Of people who needed to and saw a health professional for their own mental health in 2021-22, 34.5 percent did so at least once using a telehealth service (an increase from 30.5 percent in 2020-21).”

Additionally, females were more likely to see a health professional for their own mental health than males—20.6 percent compared to 12.3 percent—according to the ABS.