Medicare

From A Fairer Medicare to Medicare Plus: What are the Implications for the Future of Bulk-billing and Medicare?

The recent passing by the Senate of the Commonwealth government’s Medicare Plus package, followed a year-long debate about the future of Medicare. During this period a Senate Select Committee on Medicare was established to examine the government’s first package, A Fairer Medicare, and then reconvened to consider its second package, Medicare Plus. This article examines both packages and explores the impact that Medicare Plus will have, if any, on the rate of bulk-billing and patient out-of-pocket costs for general practitioner services throughout Australia and asks whether ‘Medicare Plus’ will strengthen or undermine Medicare.Building the Foundations for Health: A Case for Comprehensive Health Assessments in Resettling Refugees in Victoria.

Paying for our Health

In this article published in DISSENT (Number 11, Autumn/Winter 2003), Charles Livingstone and Greg Ford examined Medicare. The authors argue that despite a perceived 'crisis', there is a strong future for Medicare. Livingstone and Ford examine the current threats to Medicare and discuss a number of immediate reforms that would strengthen Medicare

The Bulk-billing Crisis: A Victorian Perspective

This report looks at the decline in teh rate of bulk-billing between 2000 and 2004. It provides maps and tables of the bulk-billing rates for general practitioners in every Victorian electorate and is intended to stimulate debate in communities on the implications of these trends.