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Labor’s Medicare Gold – a Grand Plan, but not the Right Perscription
Labor’s Medicare Gold policy announced yesterday attempts to give older Australians better access to the right type of care, however it doesn’t come to grips with the complexities of our health system as it fails to address its impact on the medical workforce and the resource capabilities of hospitals, community care and nursing homes according to AMA Victoria President, Dr Sam Lees.
“Medicare Gold gives preferential hospital treatment to elderly patients by putting them to the front of the queue, but this will displace many vulnerable 65 to 74 year olds, not to mention patients of all other age groups who have an equal claim to care.” Dr Lees said.
“To suggest that Victoria’s hospitals will have the capacity to meet the demand is pure electioneering” Dr Lees said.
AMA Victoria is deeply concerned that prioritising care based on age ahead of clinical need is not consistent with the universal health care system Australians say they want.
“It’s a very big call to ‘guarantee access’ and ‘guarantee immediate treatment’. AMA Victoria doubts whether the claimed ‘spare capacity’ in the private system actually exists or, if it does, if those hospitals are equipped to provide the complex care required by elderly patients” Dr Lees said.
“In Victoria, models of integration that can meet the needs of all patients with complex care needs, such as the Hospital Admission Risk Program (HARP), are already well advanced and should not be jeopardised by an age restricted policy” Dr Lees said.
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