DOCTORS REFORM SOCIETY

Media Release

 

Friday, 22 August, 2003

 

Truth, Patients, and Health Care Thrown Overboard As Government Uses Taxes To Continue Deception About Medicare

 

“Today’s full page advertisement by John Howard to promote the coalition agenda of the destruction of Medicare must leave our patients struggling to understand how his Government can make such claims whilst they struggle to find a bulk billing doctor, to afford to see specialists, to have X-rays, to pay for prescriptions, and to get surgery in a public hospital,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President of the Doctors Reform Society.

 

“The stated commitment to `maintaining and strengthening Medicare’ is about guaranteeing access to a rebate which leaves patients with huge gaps, managing aged care so badly that 10% of patients in many public hospitals are waiting for nursing homes whilst other patients can’t be admitted, and demanding patients pay more for prescription drugs,” said Dr Woodruff.

 

“Meanwhile the real story that the support for the private health industry costs Australian taxpayers $3.7 billion per year is counted as a positive by a Government convinced that the 44% of Australians who can afford private insurance are the most important people for it to look after,” said Dr Woodruff. “Its `commitment to a first rate health care system’ is a commitment to that minority of Australians who can afford such a system.”

 

“The Howard Government is ignoring the 56% of Australians who do not have private health insurance,” said Dr Woodruff, “just as it has ignored a 3 day conference of over 250 health professionals and consumer representatives in Canberra who expressed their deep concern about the dysfunctional health system for which this Government is responsible.”

 

“We call on both State and Federal Governments to listen to the people who are struggling, to stop the petty squabbling amongst themselves, and to establish a simplified, transparent, accountable funding scheme for health which is adequate to address the many problems which have been identified,” said Dr Woodruff, “to show leadership, not bullying, blustering behaviour that leaves our patients suffering, and sometimes dying unnecessarily, because of the inadequacies of the system.”

 

Dr Tim Woodruff

President

Doctors Reform Society

 

Dr Con Costa

Vice President

 

 

For further information please contact the Doctors Reform Society during business hours

 

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