It’s Time To Value Our Family Doctors

Politicians have an Independent Remuneration Tribunal to set their salary at a fair level.  Medicare has used a variety of inflation indices over the years but none of them reflect the costs of delivering affordable, quality and safe medical care. I didn’t appreciate just how underfunded Medicare Rebates for GP consultations were until I dug into the numbers. We need long term planning for sustainable healthcare outside of hospitals, linked to population growth and their changing demographics. Short term, critical-care units will only move some minor injuries away from the state emergency department and will not address the underlying issues.

Medicare has been underfunded for almost 30 years. I believe we need to put the value back into Medicare and have an Independent Remuneration Tribunal for General Practice.

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