Former Abbott adviser flags possible fees to visit hospital emergency wards

Updated

A health consultant who called for a new fee to visit a doctor has suggested it could be extended to hospital emergency departments.

The Australian Centre for Health Research has made a submission to the Federal Government's Commission of Audit proposing a $6 fee for bulk-billed GP visits to keep the Medicare system going.

But the proposal has raised fears patients with minor health complaints would instead visit hospital emergency departments for medical advice, to avoid paying the GP fee, or avoid seeking help at all.

The author of the report, Terry Barnes, advised Tony Abbott on health policy when the Prime Minister was the health minister and later when he was the opposition leader.

"In terms of emergency departments, I think the simple way to deal with it is to allow the states to charge a matching co-payment for people who do go to an emergency department," Mr Barnes told ABC News Breakfast.

The report concedes fees will be "controversial and sensitive" if they deter people from seeking treatment for chronic and acute conditions.

But Mr Barnes says the likelihood of a small fee stopping people from seeking help is small.

"We think that $5 or $6 would not be enough to deter people from going to the doctors if they absolutely need to," he said.

"We're saying this is quite reasonable to keep the whole system going.

"This is sending a price signal to people, there's no doubt about that... the level of co-payment we're suggesting is equivalent to a hamburger and fries or a schooner of beer, it's not a great deal."

Health Minister Peter Dutton has not ruled out a fee for patients visiting their doctors, saying in a statement the Government "won't be commenting on speculation around what the Commission of Audit may or may not recommend".

The report recommends capping the maximum number of fees to 12 per year, which would mean the maximum extra burden for patients would be $72 per year.

Doctors would also have the right to waive the fee for any patient in financial hardship.

Asked if Mr Abbott would support the idea, Mr Barnes said the Prime Minister would never support something that was not considered "fair and reasonable".

"I think the Prime Minister is somebody who is up for a fight for good outcomes and for good policy... but it's up to the Commission of Audit and the Government to make their own decisions," he said.

Penny Wong labels fees a 'nasty surprise'

The Opposition says the idea is an attack on Labor's Medicare system which enjoys widespread community support, and says a fee would constitute a 'tax' on parents taking their sick children to the doctor.

"I think there are a lot of families who suffer from cost of living pressures, why would we add to it?" Acting Opposition Leader Penny Wong told ABC's Radio National.

"This is a nasty surprise, it is a new tax and it is unfair."

Co-payments were first proposed by the Hawke government but abandoned in 1991.

Topics: doctors-and-medical-professionals, money-and-monetary-policy, government-and-politics, health, australia

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