AMA National President Dr Michael Gannon has used his position to tweet offensive remarks about the euthanasia debate in Victoria where Parliament is set to vote on Voluntary Assisted Dying Legislation, suggesting that the debate is all about powerful people wanting change.

It seems that Dr Gannon is trying to emulate the offensive tweeting habits of Donald Trump, using his position to put his personal view forward and ignoring the fact that the medical profession is quite evenly split on this issue but are generally willing to debate without being so offensive.

It is disturbing that Dr Gannon is not respectful of different views of his members. Some are even considering resigning from the AMA because of his behaviour.

The Doctors Reform Society supports the proposed Victorian legislation and is pleased to note that the Victorian AMA is also very disappointed in Dr Gannon’s tweets to the point of apologising to Premier Andrews.

Dr Tim Woodruff                                            Dr Con Cost

President                                                       Vice President

Ph 0401042619                                               Ph 0418400309

“It is disappointing to see reports in the Australian over the last three days indicating a reluctance on the part of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), and a lack of urgency from the Health Minister Mr Hunt about addressing the difficulties patients have trying to find out and compare the charges to see specialists and have procedures performed,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, president, Doctors Reform Society.

“It is disingenuous of the AMA president, Michael Gannon to suggest it is too difficult. It is simple. Identify common consultations and procedures by Medicare item numbers and then state how much individual specialists charge and put in the out of pocket costs i.e. over the Medicare rebate. Put it on a website so that patients and GPs can see the range of charges for the same procedure from the totally unjustified to the very reasonable. Allow patients to compare. Add the proviso that these charges may change if something unexpected happens and patients would be informed and most would easily understand that the unexpected may happen. The AMA’s opinion would seem to reflect that old dilemma: its first interest is to its members as it is primarily the doctors’ union, its second is to patients, and if there is a conflict, patients don’t count.”

“As for the Minister, he expects a report back from a ministerial advisory committee by the end of the year. If we can have a Royal Commission into banks done in 12 months, why do patients have to wait so long for this committee to report? It is not a new issue, having already been explored by a Senate inquiry”

Dr Tim Woodruff                                      Dr Con Costa

President                                                 Vice president

Ph 0401042619                                       Ph 0418400309

https://twitter.com/drsreform

http://www.facebook.com/DoctorsReformSociety

http://drs.org.au

According to an Essential Poll* conducted 6 weeks ago, 48% of Australians think the private health insurance (PHI) rebate should be abolished and the funds directed to decent dental care which would strengthen and broaden Medicare. Dr Tim Woodruff, president, Doctors Reform Society asks “Why do we have to advise our patients on low/middle incomes who are headed for a hip replacement that they have a choice? If they want the surgery when they need it they can devote 25% of their income to PHI and get the surgery done within months, but still often face crippling out of pocket costs. Or they can wait in pain for one to two years on a public hospital waiting hobbling around on narcotic analgesics. What a choice!

We strongly support the establishment of a Productivity Commission review into this wasteful, inequitable product which favours the rich and the profit driven PHI and private hospital industry and discards the poor to public hospital waiting lists. We wonder why the Coalition Government with its claimed strong economic credentials, would not support such a move. Ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that ‘PHI is in our DNA’. Could it be that the results would suggest that the DNA of the Coalition needs to change so that we can move to a health system which provides care on the basis of need rather than income?

It might even make Australia more productive as people who currently can’t afford necessary health care become employable and their relatives don’t have to reduce their work hours to help them.

Dr Tim Woodruff                            Dr Con Costa
President                                  Vice president
Ph 0401042619                              Ph 0418400309

*http://essentialvision.com.au/?s=private+health+insurance&searchbutton=Search

https://twitter.com/drsreform

http://www.facebook.com/DoctorsReformSociety

http://drs.org.au

“The vote at the Australian Medical Association’s (AMA) annual meeting yesterday to condemn doctors charging huge copayments should shake the Government to address this major problem with our health system”, said Dr Tim Woodruff, president, Doctors Reform Society. “Before Medicare, failure to pay medical bills was a leading cause of personal bankruptcy. Are we now moving back to those dark days? It is time the Government acted. Firstly it needs to recognise that an increasingly privatised health system brings out the worst in doctors so patients suffer, and secondly it should established a website listing doctors fees for the benefit of patients and referring doctors.

“Tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for an operation is not right”, said Dr Woodruff. “But it is not just operation and hospital costs that are a problem. They are the tip of the iceberg. This week I saw a patient who had taken out a small loan to pay the $180 copayment to see his dermatologist rather than wait 6 months to be seen in a public hospital. That isn’t right either. Many doctors appear more interested in the health of their investment portfolio than the health of their patients.”

“At the heart of the problem is increasing Federal Government support for private health, together with inadequate funding for public hospitals and primary care in the community, resulting in a simple choice for many – massive debt or simply go without specialist care. The fact that every day many sick and vulnerable Australians are being forced to make this choice points to not just greed and profiteering by some specialists but also a massive failure of Government and its ideological health privatisation agenda.

“GPs advocating for their patients would love to be able to easily access the billing policies of the specialists to whom they refer”, said Dr Woodruff. “It would be simple enough to get at least the costs of a specialist visit up on a website. One limited one already exists, set up by a GP. Patients and their families would love it too. The Government needs to act rather than refer this issue to an Advisory Council dominated by doctors with just one consumer/patient representative. It is not due to report until the end of the year.”

“Whilst members of the AMA condemn the huge copayments, the policy of the AMA is to suggest fees which include unaffordable copayments for many patients. These copayments are why patients from poorer patients see specialists much less often than those from the rich suburbs.”

“We do not have universal access to timely effective high quality health care”

Dr Tim Woodruff                          Dr Con Costa

President                                     Vice President

Ph 0401042619                          Ph 0418400309

“The shocking evidence displayed on 4 Corners last night suggesting some specialists allegedly rorting the system is an indictment of the Federal Government”, said Dr Tim Woodruff, president, Doctors Reform Society. “Whilst busy giving tax cuts to millionaires and tax evading corporations, the Federal Government underfunds public hospitals and primary, dental, and mental health care in its continuing ideological plan to increase private health care. It forces the desperate to take out private health insurance or wait for years for a public hospital bed, and even to take out small loans to see a specialist in the community instead of waiting a year for a public hospital appointment. It then wastes $11 billion a year propping up this private health industry knowing that out of pocket costs are hurting patients across the country.”

“It is time for the Government to decide whether it is in charge of the health of all Australians or whether it wishes to leave health care to the profit driven private health industry, the private hospitals industry, the Australian Medical Association, and the greed and sense of entitlement of high charging doctors”, said Dr Woodruff.

“We call on the Government to fund public health properly, to increase the funding of public hospitals to meet the unmet demand, to fund full time specialist staff in public hospitals, to improve funding for primary, dental, and mental health. It’s time also to address and further expose the alleged rorts, remembering always that the crippling co-payments and other out of pocket costs occur because the Government is Americanising and privatising our health system so that health care is seen as a commodity to be bought and sold, with little regard for the patients and their families struggling with the bills.”

Dr Tim Woodruff                                            Dr Con Costa

president                                                       vice president

Ph 0401042619                                               Ph 0418400309

“The new spend on Aged Care in the Federal Budget is an extremely disappointing response to the Government’s own Royal Commission”, said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society. “It basically ignores the most immediate and pressing recommendations of the Royal Commission. It has dramatically increased funding but much of its promises are in the future,” said Dr Woodruff.

“The title of the interim report of the Royal Commission was starkly called ‘Neglect’. Neglect continues under a Government more interested in funding a questionable fossil fuel funded recovery of our economy than care for the neglected Aged Care sector.”

“Various estimates of the cost of addressing the Aged Care disaster range from $7-10 billion a year. This parsimonious ‘big spending’ Government has only found about $3 billion per year. “

“It has ignored its Royal Commission advice to clear the Home Care Package waiting list by 31 December 2021. This, said the Commission, should be completed by 31 December 2021 (Recommendation 39). The Government has not allocated sufficient funds to clear the waiting list, let alone to do it by 31 December 2021.”

“It has adopted increased contact hours recommended but delayed the changes from 2022 to 2023. What’s a year in the life of someone with a life expectancy of a year or two? To a neglectful Government , not much it seems.”

“Sadly the priorities are elsewhere” said Dr Woodruff. “ The neglected will remain neglected, just slightly less. Many will be dead before any significant changes occur.”

Dr Tim Woodruff, President Ph 0401042619

Dr Con Costa, Vice President Ph 0418400309

“The Doctors Reform Society is delighted to note that Dr Con Costa, our current Vice President and past President, has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his long standing support for Medicare and public health care advocacy,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society.

“He has worked with and through our organisation and with other groups to pursue genuine universal health coverage for all Australians, particularly in the form of an affordable, extended Primary Health Care system.  But he has also long recognised the importance of social factors in determining health outcomes and has worked tirelessly to bring these to prominence,” said Dr Woodruff. “We are delighted to see this award as recognition of the work of the Doctors Reform Society since its formation in 1973 to support the introduction of public health insurance, Medicare.”

“This was in the face of strident opposition from the Australian Medical Association. Since that time Dr Costa’s lifelong work has been an encouragement to all doctors, particularly bulk billing GPs to take an active interest in supporting a fairer and better system for our patients and all those involved in working in Australia’s public health sector.”

“Dr Costa showed that doctors need to be political, because health is political and Australia’s health care system is worth fighting for, despite many doctors thinking that politics is not something they should involve themselves in.”

“When poverty leads to ill health, doctors need to point this out and politicians should listen. When the health and social systems discriminates against the poor, the unemployed, the non English speakers, Indigenous Australians, those with mental illness or disability, women, and many other disadvantaged groups, it is our responsibility as doctors to identify and advocate the changes required. We are political.”

“We congratulate Dr Costa on his award.”

Dr Tim Woodruff, President Ph 0401042619

Dr Con Costa, Vice President Ph 0418400309

All Australians who have ever benefited from a Medicare rebate should today recognise that without Bob Hawke, they could well be struggling to afford simple basic medical treatment, said Dr Tim Woodruff, president, Doctors Reform Society.

He brought back our public health insurance scheme originally introduced by Gough Whitlam’s Government and subsequently repealed by Malcolm Fraser’s Government. Hawke then entrenched it in the Australian psyche such that those who dare to threaten Medicare dare to lose the Australian electorate.

His commitment to ‘a fair go’ for all Australians continues to stand as a beacon for those who believe we should have timely access to affordable health care for all and see such access not just a dream but as an achievable goal.

Thanks Bob.

Dr Tim Woodruff

President

Ph 0401042619

https://twitter.com/drsreform

http://www.facebook.com/DoctorsReformSociety

http://drs.org.au

The Private Health Insurance industry has suggested that the Federal Government should give more money to support a profit driven inefficient private health industry. Dr Tim Woodruff, President of the Doctors Reform Society asks “Why not just support the public health system better rather than giving tax rebates for employers to give private health insurance to employees?”

Of course the PHI industry is in trouble. It’s trying to follow the United States model of health care which is now seeing declining life expectancy and increasing infant mortality because of its emphasis on privatisation, including having employers pay for employees PHI. It’s a disaster.

Why does the PHI industry want these changes? To get more taxpayer support for themselves to make more profits. The majority of Australians don’t have PHI because it’s a bad product.

It’s not time to give yet more money to support a private industry. Indeed it’s time we had a Productivity Commission assessment of the value of any taxpayer support for PHI.

Dr Tim Woodruff                                             Dr Con Costa

Ph 0401042619                                               Ph 0418400309

President                                                         Vice President

https://twitter.com/drsreform

http://www.facebook.com/DoctorsReformSociety

http://drs.org.au

“Today’s report of the squabble between State Governments and private health insurance companies over charges for privately insured patients who use public hospital beds leaves public patients at risk”, said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society. “While they fight about money, privately insured patients take up bed in public hospitals. Meanwhile my patients wait six to eighteen months and sometimes more just to get into such public hospital beds. At the same time Emergency Departments struggle to find a bed for patients requiring admission. How fair is that?”

“All those waiting patients have public health insurance,” said Dr Woodruff.” It’s called Medicare, paid for through taxes. The benefits are meant to be distributed according to need. They aren’t. Instead taxes are used to support privately insured patients to use scarce beds in public hospitals whilst public patients wait on trolleys in Emergency Departments or on waiting lists for surgery.”

“Privately insured patients now have the opportunity to jump the public hospital queues in two ways courtesy of taxpayer funded support from the Federal Government. Firstly they can go to private hospitals where 40% of their costs are covered by taxes. Secondly they can push public patients out of public hospital beds.”