Tue, 13th May 2008

Government can't rule out longer waiting lists

Senator The Hon Richard Colbeck
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health

The Rudd Government has today confirmed it cannot guarantee that no Australian will have to wait longer for public hospital treatment as a result of its changes to the Medicare surcharge levy policy, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Tasmanian Liberal Senator Richard Colbeck said.

The question was put to Senator Ludwig, the representative of Health Minister Nicola Roxon in the Senate.

``Senate Ludwig refused to give Australians this guarantee,’’ Senator Colbeck said.

``And the State Labor health ministers have realised what this means for their hospitals – Tasmanian Health Minister Lara Giddings said yesterday she expects an increase in Federal funding to deal with the likely increase in demand for public hospital services.

``What we are seeing here is a reversion to the past by Labor where the decisions they are making with respect to health are more about ideology than addressing the real health issues in Australia.

``This decision has nothing to do with good policy, evidenced by Labor’s neglect to use its much-heralded National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission which was charged with, among other things, maximising a productive relationship between public and private sectors.

``The Commission has provided just one interim statement to date, yet we have seen a decision from the Rudd Government that will have a significant impact on the delivery of health services in this country – decisions which have been made completely lacking consultation with the Commission and very certainly lacking consultation with the industry.

``In the late nineties there was a significant fall in the number of Australians who had private health insurance and at that point in time the Howard government was legitimately concerned about the issues surrounding the sustainability of the health system.

``The government of the day brought in the 30 per cent rebate and then lifetime cover, and the rates of private health insurance rose from 30 per cent up to 44-45 per cent where they remain today.

``But the Rudd Government’s decision risks a return to the downward spiral we saw in private health insurance during the early 1990s, when Labor was in power and had this philosophical opposition to providing private health insurance.

``This decision is going to have dire consequences for the public health system and Labor have acknowledged that today with the refusal to guarantee that no Australian will wait longer for public hospital treatment as a result of the changes to the Medicare surcharge levy,’’ Senator Colbeck said.