Fed: Safety net stalled in Senate after Dems say no deal to govt

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2003
Fed: Safety net stalled in Senate after Dems say no deal to govt

CANBERRA, Dec 3 AAP - The federal government will not be able to get its Medicare safety
net through the Senate before Christmas after it failed to reach a deal with the Australian
Democrats.

Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett today told reporters the party had been unable to
strike a deal with Health Minister Tony Abbott which would have allowed the legislation
to be passed before the Senate rises for the year.

"We have explored a range of ways to try and give an extra boost to bulk-billing as
well as finding ways of further strengthening the enhanced safety net that the government
is proposing," Senator Bartlett said.

"Medicare and our health system needs significant overhauls."

Senator Bartlett said anyone suggesting that widespread bulk-billing could be available
for all health services was romantic at best, or, more likely, dangerously misleading.

"The Democrats haven't been able to reach agreement with the government to get some
extra changes that would further assist people in the area of Medicare and health," he
said.

"We worked hard to get extra incentives for bulk-billing but after a couple of weeks
of trying we simply weren't able to get ... (any) that we felt were significant or durable
enough to justify giving early passage to the safety net legislation."

The government had been looking at concessions to secure the Democrats support on the
proviso they agreed to pass the legislation this year.

The safety net is the only part of the government's $2.4 billion Medicare Plus package
requiring legislative approval.

The Medicare changes have been sent to a Senate committee, due to report on February
11, making a vote on the safety net highly unlikely without an agreement between the Democrats
and government.

Low and middle income earners will receive an 80 per cent rebate for all Medicare health
expenses once they reach a $500 threshold under the safety net.

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KEYWORD: MEDICARE SENATE LEAD

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