❓ Mr. Cook questions the Minister for Health regarding the Chief Medical Officer's comments on bulk-billing and potential impacts on hospital emergency departments. The Minister disagrees with the CMO's stance, citing concerns about hospital strain and patient access.
AnsweredQoN 527Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
GENERAL
PRACTITIONERS — BULK-BILLING
527. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for Health:
I refer the comments of the minister's
Chief Medical Officer last week urging GPs to charge patients more than the
Medicare rebate and calling for the end of bulk-billing.
(1) Does the
minister agree with his Chief Medical Officer?
(2) Can he
confirm this new government policy to charge WA families more to see their GP?
(3) What does the
minister consider will be the impact on our already overstretched hospital system
if patients go to emergency departments rather than their local GPs because GPs
are being urged to increase fees for WA families?
PRACTITIONERS — BULK-BILLING
527. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for Health:
I refer the comments of the minister's
Chief Medical Officer last week urging GPs to charge patients more than the
Medicare rebate and calling for the end of bulk-billing.
(1) Does the
minister agree with his Chief Medical Officer?
(2) Can he
confirm this new government policy to charge WA families more to see their GP?
(3) What does the
minister consider will be the impact on our already overstretched hospital system
if patients go to emergency departments rather than their local GPs because GPs
are being urged to increase fees for WA families?
AnswerView source ↗
(1) (3) The
opposition is making the Deputy Leader of the Opposition work hard today!
I guess it is a bit sad to say that I
do not agree with the Chief Medical Officer's first public utterance.
Perhaps his comments are reflective of the fact that he has come from being
former a president of the Australian Medical Association. Having said that, I
have a great deal of time for him as an individual who worked very hard with us
on the four-hour rule.
Mr
R.H. Cook : From your perspective, do you agree with him?
Dr
K.D. HAMES : No; I do not agree with him, for the same reasons that the
Deputy Leader of the Opposition does not agree with him. After bulk-billing
first came in, I bulk-billed all my patients. I soon found that I was
overloaded and flooded with patients who were coming in for relatively minor
complaints. I went back to charging patients who were employed and bulk-billing
healthcare cardholders, pensioners, children or people who made repeat visits,
so I achieved a balance. The trouble was that the commonwealth's
Medicare levy rebate did not go up to match inflation. If we compare a graph
showing consumer price index inflation since the introduction of Medicare with
a graph showing the commonwealth rebate over the years, we would see an
enormous divergence.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Order, members!
Dr
K.D. HAMES : I am explaining why doctors have tended to move further and
further away from bulk-billing to charging patients directly.
Mr
R.H. Cook : Are you saying that you agree with what he said?
Dr
K.D. HAMES : Again, no, I do not—and for good reasons. The first is
because of the effect it would have on public hospitals. We have encouraged
general practitioner clinics that have set up around our public hospitals to
bulk-bill, otherwise people would instead attend the public hospital. Second,
there are a range of people who cannot afford to pay full fees and who
therefore seek out those doctors who bulk-bill, with the alternative being that
they do not see a doctor. What we are finding with the huge load of patients
presenting at our hospitals, particularly with flu symptoms, is that people who
either cannot get in to see a GP or cannot afford to see a GP are presenting at
hospitals with minor complaints or are not seeing a doctor at all. When they
get sick with the man flu, like the Treasurer, and do not seek any help, they
end up much sicker than they should be. People need to be able to access
doctors early to get treatment. Yes, I think it would put extra pressure on our
emergency departments, although as I have said, I do understand those doctors
who became absolutely fed up with the commonwealth's lack of a
reasonable rebate for the patients they were seeing. I refer to all governments
at the commonwealth level. That means the value of seeing a patient for a
doctor is nowhere near what it used to be in previous years.
opposition is making the Deputy Leader of the Opposition work hard today!
I guess it is a bit sad to say that I
do not agree with the Chief Medical Officer's first public utterance.
Perhaps his comments are reflective of the fact that he has come from being
former a president of the Australian Medical Association. Having said that, I
have a great deal of time for him as an individual who worked very hard with us
on the four-hour rule.
Mr
R.H. Cook : From your perspective, do you agree with him?
Dr
K.D. HAMES : No; I do not agree with him, for the same reasons that the
Deputy Leader of the Opposition does not agree with him. After bulk-billing
first came in, I bulk-billed all my patients. I soon found that I was
overloaded and flooded with patients who were coming in for relatively minor
complaints. I went back to charging patients who were employed and bulk-billing
healthcare cardholders, pensioners, children or people who made repeat visits,
so I achieved a balance. The trouble was that the commonwealth's
Medicare levy rebate did not go up to match inflation. If we compare a graph
showing consumer price index inflation since the introduction of Medicare with
a graph showing the commonwealth rebate over the years, we would see an
enormous divergence.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Order, members!
Dr
K.D. HAMES : I am explaining why doctors have tended to move further and
further away from bulk-billing to charging patients directly.
Mr
R.H. Cook : Are you saying that you agree with what he said?
Dr
K.D. HAMES : Again, no, I do not—and for good reasons. The first is
because of the effect it would have on public hospitals. We have encouraged
general practitioner clinics that have set up around our public hospitals to
bulk-bill, otherwise people would instead attend the public hospital. Second,
there are a range of people who cannot afford to pay full fees and who
therefore seek out those doctors who bulk-bill, with the alternative being that
they do not see a doctor. What we are finding with the huge load of patients
presenting at our hospitals, particularly with flu symptoms, is that people who
either cannot get in to see a GP or cannot afford to see a GP are presenting at
hospitals with minor complaints or are not seeing a doctor at all. When they
get sick with the man flu, like the Treasurer, and do not seek any help, they
end up much sicker than they should be. People need to be able to access
doctors early to get treatment. Yes, I think it would put extra pressure on our
emergency departments, although as I have said, I do understand those doctors
who became absolutely fed up with the commonwealth's lack of a
reasonable rebate for the patients they were seeing. I refer to all governments
at the commonwealth level. That means the value of seeing a patient for a
doctor is nowhere near what it used to be in previous years.
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