The Tasmanian state election race heats up as both Liberal and Labor make election promises on bulk billing.
Things are heating up in Tasmania with the state’s Liberal Party announcing it would match Labor’s promise to open five new bulk-billing GP clinics.
This offer match has come after heated media release exchanges between the two parties, with the health sector now looking to be the central to the state election battle.
The promise to support the new clinics is “something we are already doing”, said the Liberals.
“If Labor want to rebadge the new clinics they can knock themselves out,” the Tasmanian Liberal Party said in a release.
“The Liberals will match the commitment to five new clinics, no matter what they are called.
“The Liberal government is ensuring record investment into health — $10 million dollars a day.”
Comparisons to the recent federal election’s focus on health policy have been made by the Labor Party, with the party arguing for the Liberals to make stronger election promises instead of matching Labor.
“Jeremy Rockliff has done a Dutton in matching Labor’s free doctor clinic promise today,” Ella Haddad said in a statement.
“Just like his former Federal leader, Premier Rockliff’s attempts to convince people the Liberals care about healthcare are completely untrustworthy.
“If the Liberals are already doing it like they claim, why doesn’t anyone know about it?
“And why did they feel the urgent need to match Labor’s promise today?”
Along with Labor’s clinic-related election promises, the party has also pledged to establish an initiative to align the state’s healthcare with a more federal approach.
The “TassieDoc” initiative, aside from supporting the development of new clinics, promises to alleviate workforce shortages with incentives for 150 additional doctors to live and work in Tasmania.
The initiative would also provide grants to practices to help with workforce retention at both rural and urban levels.
“TassieDoc” clinics that both parties have pledged towards are expected to be operational by the end of the year.
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These clinics would implement a new form of bulk-billing incentive to provide a more sustainable benefit to general practice.
“The way they thought they would incentivise GPs to do this sort of work is that they, if they bulk bill their patients, are allowed to take home 100% of their billing, so there won’t be a service fee payable,” RACGP Tasmania chair Dr Toby Gardner told The Medical Republic.
“That’s what the state government has said – that they would cover that service fee, which covers the nurse and the admin.
“Where the demand is in Tassie is that there’s barely any universal bulk billing.
“Of course, it’s an election, so governments wave around Medicare cards and do things that are likely to be popular with the community.”
