One Nation will strengthen Medicare, with a focus on combatting fraud, as part of its plan to put more money in Australians’ pockets.
Party leader Senator Pauline Hanson said the Medicare system was being rorted by up to $3 billion a year – resources better directed towards lifting bulk-billing rates.
“When the Independent Review of Medicare Integrity and Compliance was released in April 2023, we learned Medicare was being rorted by up to $3 billion a year,” Senator Hanson said.
“There have been many examples of people using other people’s Medicare cards, doctors’ appointments being used to obtain cheap PBS-funded medicines which are then sold on the black market here and overseas for big profits, and even doctors falsely claiming funding for appointments they did not have.
“A lot of this could be prevented by requiring photo ID on our Medicare cards – this is our policy – and by ensuring Medicare is sufficiently resourced to ensure GPs are remunerated sufficiently.
“Like so many other small businesses in Australia, GPs are facing much higher operating costs – rents, rates, insurance, energy bills – and this is reducing bulk-billing rates.
These rates fell from 51.7% to 47.7% last financial year, with the average out-of-pocket cost rising to $45 per appointment. Almost 9% of patients either delayed their appointments or just didn’t go because of these out-of-pocket costs.
“We must have a hard look at increasing the Medicare rebate and better remunerate GPs to prevent their exit from the system. Australia is potentially looking at a shortfall of more than 10,000 GPs by the start of the next decade.
“Fixing Medicare and cracking down on fraud is part of our plan to slash government waste by $90 billion, putting $40 billion more in Australians’ pockets, paying down government debt and investing in Australia’s future.”