Bill Shorten is opposing his own party’s health policy

According to Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, the revised GP co-payment represents the death of Medicare. Yet what the Abbott Government is really doing is implementing the health policy of the Hawke Labor Government.

In 1991, Prime Minister Bob Hawke introduced a $2.50 GP co-payment and cut the Medicare rebate paid to doctors by the same amount. Pensioners and other concession-card holders were exempted from the new copayment.

The Hawke co-payment bears a striking resemblance to the policy of the current government. In today’s money, $2.50 is around $5, which under the Abbott plan is the amount non-concession card holders will pay to see the GP, and the amount by which the Medicare rebate will be cut.

 What’s different today is the politics. In 1991, the GP copayment had the bipartisan support of the Coalition. Today, Bill Shorten’s Labor Party opposes what once was Labor policy. This means the Abbott co-payment will have to win crossbench support to be approved by the Senate.

The Hawke copayment lasted only three months because of internal Labor politics. Paul Keating successfully challenged Hawke for the Prime Minister, and won the support of Left-wing members of the Labor Caucus by promising to scrap the co-payment.

This does not mean that a GP co-payment is unfair.

It is often claimed that Australia has one of the best, most affordable and sustainable welfare systems in the world because government assistance is targeted. This is more or less true, for example, with regards to our means-tested age pension.

But when it comes to Medicare, the principle that the government should only help those who can’t help themselves is ignored. Medicare, thanks to bulk billing, allows everyone to access ‘free’, taxpayer-funded health care regardless of their means.

A $5 GP copayment with exemptions for those on low-incomes does not represent the death of Medicare. 

Those who can’t afford $5 will continue to get a ‘fair go’ from the health system. However, those who can afford it, and should be expected to help themselves, will need to make a small contribution to the cost of their own health care.

Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.