media releases

“Medicare ‘safety net’ spending figures per electorate released yesterday by the Health Minister, Tony Abbott reveal a sorry tale suggestive of middle class welfare and pork barrelling,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society.

“Most disturbing is the way the money is directed to those electorates which are the most socio-economically privileged,” said Dr Woodruff. “The top three electorates for safety net spending per voter are Wentworth, North Sydney, and Bradfield. They are also the top three electorates on the socio-economic rating scale. Thus in Sydney’s Bradfield at the top of the rating, the taxpayer pays $74 per voter but in nearby Fowler, the lowest ranking electorate, only $12 per voter is spent.

“Rural Australia is also the sad loser from the largesse of the ‘safety net’ as rural electorates constitute seven of the bottom ten electorates for ‘safety net’ spending,” said Dr Woodruff.

“Braddon, at the bottom of the pile, gets a miserly $1.41 per voter per year.”

“It is also of great concern that eight of the top ten electorates rated according to the amount spent per voter in the electorate are in Liberal held seats, such as Minister Abbott’s own seat of Warringah where $68 per voter finds its way from the taxpayer to help pay the medical bills of his voters.”

“This Government’s guiding spending principle in health seems to be that those with the least need get the most and those with the most need get the least. That’s the inverse care law” said Dr Woodruff. “Rather than calling on the Labor Party to endorse the ‘safety net’, the Government should be apologising to most Australians, particularly those in greatest need, for setting up such an inequitable scheme”.

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

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