❓ Question addresses concerns that a federal budget change allowing exemption from the Medicare levy surcharge for those dropping private health insurance will burden the WA public health system, particularly elective surgery. The Minister acknowledges potential impact, highlights progress in reducing elective surgery waitlists, and awaits further budget details.
AnsweredQoN 234Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FEDERAL BUDGET — MEDICARE SURCHARGE EXEMPTION
I refer the minister to the federal budget that will be released today and to the controversial decision by the federal government to make it possible for people who have private health insurance to ditch their cover as a result of an exemption from the Medicare surcharge. Does the minister support the view that this will result in thousands of young people ditching their private insurance, with a massive increase in the burden on our public health system, which is already in crisis? Mr J.A. McGINTY
I refer the minister to the federal budget that will be released today and to the controversial decision by the federal government to make it possible for people who have private health insurance to ditch their cover as a result of an exemption from the Medicare surcharge. Does the minister support the view that this will result in thousands of young people ditching their private insurance, with a massive increase in the burden on our public health system, which is already in crisis? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
I am concerned about the impact on our public health system of initiatives that may be announced in the federal budget this evening. I have not seen the detail of those yet and I will, of course, save my judgement until then. The major impact will be on elective surgery. People do not have private health insurance for emergency care. If there is an emergency, overwhelmingly people are treated in one of the public hospital emergency departments across the length and breadth of the state. In fact, if people are seriously ill, the best place for them to be in Western Australia is in a public hospital, because they know that they will be very well looked after there. Having said that, I should say that we have made significant progress in Western Australia, as the Premier just referred to, in reducing the elective surgery waitlist. When the opposition was in government, 22 000 people were waiting for surgery. We have now got that figure down, and today it is 12 500 people. We have almost halved the total number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I am concerned about the impact on our public health system of initiatives that may be announced in the federal budget this evening. I have not seen the detail of those yet and I will, of course, save my judgement until then. The major impact will be on elective surgery. People do not have private health insurance for emergency care. If there is an emergency, overwhelmingly people are treated in one of the public hospital emergency departments across the length and breadth of the state. In fact, if people are seriously ill, the best place for them to be in Western Australia is in a public hospital, because they know that they will be very well looked after there. Having said that, I should say that we have made significant progress in Western Australia, as the Premier just referred to, in reducing the elective surgery waitlist. When the opposition was in government, 22 000 people were waiting for surgery. We have now got that figure down, and today it is 12 500 people. We have almost halved the total number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
I am concerned about the impact on our public health system of initiatives that may be announced in the federal budget this evening. I have not seen the detail of those yet and I will, of course, save my judgement until then. The major impact will be on elective surgery. People do not have private health insurance for emergency care. If there is an emergency, overwhelmingly people are treated in one of the public hospital emergency departments across the length and breadth of the state. In fact, if people are seriously ill, the best place for them to be in Western Australia is in a public hospital, because they know that they will be very well looked after there. Having said that, I should say that we have made significant progress in Western Australia, as the Premier just referred to, in reducing the elective surgery waitlist. When the opposition was in government, 22 000 people were waiting for surgery. We have now got that figure down, and today it is 12 500 people. We have almost halved the total number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I am concerned about the impact on our public health system of initiatives that may be announced in the federal budget this evening. I have not seen the detail of those yet and I will, of course, save my judgement until then. The major impact will be on elective surgery. People do not have private health insurance for emergency care. If there is an emergency, overwhelmingly people are treated in one of the public hospital emergency departments across the length and breadth of the state. In fact, if people are seriously ill, the best place for them to be in Western Australia is in a public hospital, because they know that they will be very well looked after there. Having said that, I should say that we have made significant progress in Western Australia, as the Premier just referred to, in reducing the elective surgery waitlist. When the opposition was in government, 22 000 people were waiting for surgery. We have now got that figure down, and today it is 12 500 people. We have almost halved the total number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
I am concerned about the impact on our public health system of initiatives that may be announced in the federal budget this evening. I have not seen the detail of those yet and I will, of course, save my judgement until then. The major impact will be on elective surgery. People do not have private health insurance for emergency care. If there is an emergency, overwhelmingly people are treated in one of the public hospital emergency departments across the length and breadth of the state. In fact, if people are seriously ill, the best place for them to be in Western Australia is in a public hospital, because they know that they will be very well looked after there. Having said that, I should say that we have made significant progress in Western Australia, as the Premier just referred to, in reducing the elective surgery waitlist. When the opposition was in government, 22 000 people were waiting for surgery. We have now got that figure down, and today it is 12 500 people. We have almost halved the total number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will start that again, Mr Speaker. We have halved the number of people on the elective surgery waitlist. However, equally importantly, we have halved the amount of time that people wait. Although 22 000 people were on the elective surgery waitlist when the opposition was in power, waiting an average of five months, today 12 500 people are waiting an average of two and a half months. That is a very significant turnaround. The big impact of this federal budget initiative will be felt in the elective surgery area—an area in which we have done well but in which we want to do a lot better, and we are still struggling to meet the very aggressive targets that we have set ourselves to reduce the elective surgery waitlist even more. This morning I had a two-hour meeting with key Department of Health people to look at ways in which we can drive the number of people on elective surgery waitlists even lower. I suspect that the number of people who will pull out of private insurance, who use it primarily — Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Dr J.M. Woollard interjected. The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The SPEAKER : The Minister for Health has the floor. Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I have forgotten where I was! The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The SPEAKER : So have I! Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will not start again. The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
The area in the health system that is under the most pressure is emergency departments. They will not be affected by the change because people use public hospital emergency departments whether or not they are privately insured. My concern is that the area in which we have made the greatest progress will be the area that is most subjected to pressure. I am waiting to see the fine detail of what comes out. I hope that we can do even better with elective surgery waitlists.
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