19th Jun 2017, 9:54 PM – Senate Medicare Guarantee Bill 2017 + Medicare Guarantee (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2017 - Second Reading - Withdraw bill & redraft it

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Senator Helen Polley (Tas), which means it failed. The motion asked for this bill to be withdrawn and redrafted "to provide actual guarantees for the future of Medicare".

What do these bills do?

If passed, the bills will create the Medicare Guarantee Fund. The Fund will be used to fund both Medicare benefits and payments under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme [PBS]. The creation of this fund is a response to the 2016 election, which the Labor Party accused the Coalition of wanted to privatise Medicare.

The bills digest emphasises that these bills don't "guarantee the continuing existence of Medicare of itself ... [but] will make funding of both the MBS [Medicare Benefits Schedule] and PBS more visible because all the Medicare benefit payments and PBS payments will be made through the Health Special Account."

Motion text

Leave out all words after "that" insert:

"the bill be withdrawn and redrafted to provide actual guarantees for the future of Medicare, specifically by:

(a) setting out the purpose of Medicare, namely to provide a universal public health insurance scheme that provides access to medical, pharmaceutical and public hospital services based on clinical need, not capacity to pay;

(b) including funding to support universal access to public hospital treatment, along with medical and pharmaceutical benefits, in the purpose of the bill;

(c) guaranteeing immediate and annual indexation of Medicare rebates that have been frozen by this Government;

(d) guaranteeing proper Commonwealth investment in public hospitals, so that all Australians can access acute care without financial or other barriers; and

(e) guaranteeing that savings from the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review and agreements with stakeholders will be reinvested in Medicare, and not used as an excuse for further cuts."