Title : When it comes to health, which party has the best plan?
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When it comes to health, which party has the best plan?
Targeting health is seen as a vote winner in elections — remember Labor's "Mediscare" campaign in 2016? — and there has been no shortage of health announcements in the federal budget and the election campaign.
Key points:
- Both parties have promised to lift freeze on Medicare rebates for GP services
- $2.3 billion cancer plan is the centre piece of Labor's campaign
- Coalition promises to make life-saving cancer medications more affordable
- Scans and tests to be cheaper under both plans
This time around, most of the promises are designed to make it cheaper for you to see a doctor or specialist, by introducing mechanisms to reduce out-of-pocket costs.
Will it actually be cheaper to go the doctors?
Well, maybe.
Labor has promised to lift the freeze on the Medicare rebates for GP services in its first 50 days in office.
The Coalition has said they will lift the freeze before the year is out.
That has made groups like the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of GPs happy.
But whether it makes it cheaper for patients to see a doctor depends on the doctor's behaviour.
Dr Henry Cutler from Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy said the government can't set GP prices.
"The government can't tell GPs or specialists what to charge, so some of that rebate may go into provider pockets," he said.
But whichever side wins the election, to protect patient's hip pockets, health experts will be hoping that doesn't happen.
Cancer is a political battleground in 2019
For its part, Labor's top promise is a $2.3 billion cancer plan.
The pitch from Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is that voters will get "cheaper cancer scans, cheaper cancer specialist consultations and cheaper cancer medicines".
The Grattan Institute's health director, Professor Stephen Duckett, said having a new Medicare item for patients to visit oncologists, with a rebate of $150, would be popular with patients.
"The Parliamentary Budget Office says you will go from 40 per cent of consultations bulk-billed to 80 per cent being bulk-billed," he said.
"You won't get all of them — never will.
"That's a significant change and that means instead of one in every five consultations, it is four out of five, so you have a better chance of seeing a bulk-billing consultant."
The Coalition said the promise is under-funded because there are more than 400 types of appointments that cancer specialists can charge patients for.
The Coalition estimates the government already spends up to $6 billion a year on cancer treatment and services.
Making life-saving cancer medications more affordable is a key plank of the Coalition's pitch to voters.
Its figures show that since 2013, 2,000 new or amended items were added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), worth $10.6 billion.
And in the 2019 Budget, of the $331 million allocated to subsidise expensive new drugs, eight were cancer medications.
Three new cancer medicines will be added to the PBS in May 2019, including medications to treat an aggressive type of skin cancer, and a drug for advanced breast cancer.
Without such a subsidy, patients would have to pay $150,000 a year for the skin cancer drug and $55,000 for the breast cancer drug.
Tests and scans could be cheaper too
Both parties are making a pitch to voters that diagnostic scans will be cheaper, too, if they get elected.
Leanne Wells from the Consumers Health Forum said cost of medical treatment is a key issue for patients.
"The community is saying out-of-pocket costs are an absolute pain point for us in health care and something has to be done," she said.
The Coalition has promised $375 million to fund new MRI licences to detect cancer, as well as $33 million so women with breast cancer can get MRI and PET scans.
As part of Labor's cancer plan, "for people who need a cancer scan, every MRI machine, in every postcode, will be eligible for Medicare", Bill Shorten said.
Dr Henry Cutler from Macquarie University said people were skimping on health care because of the cost.
"And that leads to increased health expenditure when they enter hospital, for example, because they haven't received preventative care," he said.
What about broader reforms to the health system?
Many commentators told the ABC what was really needed was wider reform of the health system, not piecemeal measures.
Dr Henry Cutler said both parties needed to address some inherent problems in the healthcare system.
"We need to prepare our system for future challenges and we haven't seen much sophisticated thinking around that throughout the last couple of weeks," he said.
There have been some promising signs.
In this year's Budget, the Coalition announced almost $450 million for a new program to support GPs to provide enhanced personalised care and services for people aged over 70.
Ms Wells said what is needed is coordinated care.
"People's experience of the system at the moment is one of disconnected, really poorly coordinated care," she said.
"We need GPs working with pharmacists, working with physios, working with psychologists, so that they can provide really customised, wrap-around care."
Who is missing out?
So far, both parties have failed to make significant commitments tackling important public health issues such as dental care, obesity, and funding for preventative health measures.
Experts argue that without addressing those key issues, the burden of disease and the costs of providing health care will continue to grow unabated.
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