Bobby wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 7:59 pm
Black Orchid wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 7:28 pm
I am SO sick of seeing Albo picking up and/or kissing babies on the tv.
Just saw him on ABC hugging a baby.
Yep, and he has that Medicare card in his pocket too, as though it were a Labor creation. Universal health care wasn't a Bob Hawke concept!
He's just a sleezy used-car salesman, and he's got immigrants eating from the same hand he holds that Medicare card in.
Free universal health is everything to immigrants, who've come from developing countries whereby having access to 1st class health care is deemed a luxury.
Sickening, Labor still pulls out the old Medicare card in a desperate attempt to frighten migrants and score votes today, when it's known to Australians that Medicare is here to stay.
Or, like Labors Rudd, will a Labor Albanese turn Medicare into a for-profit "fat" government enterprise the way Labor did with Medibank back in 2008?
Albanese may flash the Medicare card the way Bob Hawke did in 1984, but what Labor gives with one hand, they ALWAYS take with the other, hence Bulk-billing has decreased under a Labor Albanese government because at the end of the day, his union thugs need their cut, many of which are employed within his sprawling public service.
Why are Labor more interested in the immigrant vote than the worker vote these days?
Because there's more immigrants than working class that Labors very aware are naieve to their Labor government's historical failures and hypocrisy.
They know that all they need to do is flash that Medicare card and this will instill fear into those who are naieve and trully believe that Liberals would consider dismantling our universal health care system. It's a no- go zone for any Australian party, Medicare, Australia's universal health care system is here to stay, it's just the standard of overall health care has declined under a Labor government that is more about creating the illusion that they're invested in quality public health, when we all know, this has declined dangerously under a Labor government.
Coming from a health background, I'm an advocate for preventative health care and support the family medical practice model, whereby we attend a Family general practice, have a dedicated family GP ( or their colleagues if they're on leave) from the same 9 to 5 medical practice.
This style of health care is more comprehensive, more thorough and inclined to spot serious problems before they become expensive medical emergencies and or chronic long-term problems.
The Labor government is pro- "Tellehealth" and pro- sporadic care as required, think of it as fixing up a bomb car as problems occur, rather than having your car serviced twice a year and thoroughly checked over.
Labors intention is to do away with the concept of primary health care, to make way for a b-rate urgent care by doctors who have no idea what the patients medical history is, whereby they're expected to provide bulk-billed quality care in under 10 minutes.
Myself, I am happy to pay a nominal gap for both my daughter and myself inorder to attend our regular family GP and practice, and use full bulk-billing doctors ( which are usually inexperienced
and still training anyway) for more urgent things like broken bones or UTIs if say I am unable to see my regular family GP outside regular business hours.
Unfortunately, the system itself is vulnerable to exploitation and we have people attending Urgent Care clinics for ailments they should be having attended to by their regular GP, things that can wait.
Because some existing Australians and people who have recently immigrated to Australia really do take the whole universal health care concept and milk it to death.
I think there should be a compulsory co-payment for those who can afford it, Urgent Care, Emergency Departments, General practice right across the board, this will make primary health care more comprehensive and sustainable in Australia, and accessible for free to those who have health care cards, pension cards, DVA cards etc. If we genuinly want to make Medicare a sustainable luxury accessible for future generations of Australians, we need to start imposing a gap on those who can afford it.
I have a concession card, and am more than happy to pay the gap to access quality primary health care for my daughter and I, why do immigrants expect generations of Australian tax payers to pay the entirety of their medical bills the moment they set foot in this country?
All patients should pay a co-payment, of at least $5 for those with concession cards, ( You can't even buy a coffee for $5), and if they can't afford to pay at the time, then they can be sent the bill.
Those without concession cards can afford to pay the measly gap of roughly $20.
Those who don't have Medicare cards should have enough respect for the country they're staying in to have medical insurance. Be responsible travellers.
If everyone paid a nominal co- payment our health care system would be more sustainable and comprehensive than it is.
More medications could be added to the PBS, more Medicare covered routine procedures and diagnostics making quality health care more accessible to al, not just those who can afford $600 MRIs. Etc.
Likewise with public hospital accommodation, what's wrong with patients paying $20 a night or $10 for concession card holders?
For those genuinly poor and without funds, send them the bill.
Plenty of charitable organisations are equipped to assist with this if they're hopless at managing their government payments.
Everyone complains about the hospital bed situation, ambulances being ramped, poor care, etc because the prospect of completely FREE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE is unsustainable, and should only be made available to those enduring genuine crisis hardship.
Not for every single person who chooses to holiday without medical insurance in our country, the way it is now with Urgent Care clinics bulk-billing undocumented immigrants without Medicare cards indiscriminately.
Not for well heeled seniors who can't bare the thought of paying a $5 co- payment/ gap for a 99% Medicare covered GP consultation.
Australia will be needing to become more self-sufficient and sustainable in light of the geopolitical dynamics of our changing world, so it's time to revise old-school policy that was made for very different times in Australia, back in 1984 when health technology and pharmaceuticals weren't as expensive and comprehensive.
With compulsory co-payments towards health care, we can keep the Australian Medicare dream alive and most importantly, sustainable for future generations of Australians to come.
Better care, better drugs, and less waste.
There's people out there who book free weekly or fortnightly medical consultations with their GPs just to have a friendly chat, they call these "check-ups".
I've seen it.
Likewise, there's frequent flyers who attend hospitals emergency departments for attention seeking purposes, mothers with mental health issues taking kids to A&E for ailments that the school nurse could have dealt with the following day at school.
Co-payments will stop a fair whack of this nonsense.
Old ladies with slight headaches just wanting their blood pressure checked and to whinge about the dog barking next door.
The difference between Liberals and Labor is that Liberals are up-front about their intentions and provide rationales for why, whereas Labors happy to observe our health care system slide into dispare, do absolutely nothing about it, and flash the old "Medicare " card.
~A climate change denier is what an idiot calls a realist~https://g.co/kgs/6F5wtU
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at the moment, if anything. 
No wonder we're seen as a joke by China and Russia.
