Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, as we've just spoken to the AMA about we
know a big announcement this week with the Federal government
announcing the largest investment into Medicare since its creation over
forty years ago, eight point five billion dollars to deliver
an additional eighteen million bulk build GP visits each year.
Now it is well really the first time Labour's going
(00:21):
to expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians and create
an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill
every patient. We are also set to see hundreds of
nurses trained and thousands more doctors in the largest GP
training program ever. On the face of it sounds like
a fantastic announcement. How exactly is it going to work
(00:43):
and what's it going what is it going to mean
for Territorians. We'll joining us on the line is the
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler. Good morning to your minister.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning Katie, thanks so much for.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Your time this morning. Now, Minister, how exactly is this
going to work?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, for many years now, doctors have received an incentive
payment if they bulk build pensions and concession card holders,
and the year before last we tripled that incentive, so
they got even more money if they bold build those Australians.
And that's that's really worked very well. I mean, bulk
billing even for pensioners and concession card holders were starting
(01:21):
to drop across the country and it's turned that around
so now well more than ninety percent, comfortably more than
ninety percent of pension as a bulk build. And in
the in the territory, that led to a five percent
increase in bulk billing just last year alone. But for
people who don't have a concession card, and that doesn't
(01:43):
mean they're on high incomes, like the concession card cuts
out at about forty thousand dollars if you're a single
or seventy thousand dollars a year if you're a couple,
and those Australians have never received any support to be
bulk builled. So as you said, for the first time,
we're going to pay that in step entive to doctors
if they both build those Australians as well, And that's
(02:04):
a very big, huge increase to the amount of money
a doctor receives from the Medicare system for bulk building
those Australians. And on top of that, for the first
time we're going to pay an additional payment to general
practices who bulk bill all of their clients, all of
their patients who come through their doors. So it's the
biggest investment in bulk building. It's a lot of money,
(02:26):
eight and a half billion dollars, but the AMA says
nationally that's effectively the amount of money that Peter Dutton
ripped out of the system when he froze Medicare funding
ten years ago as Health minister.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Now, in terms of ensuring that this does actually get
passed on to those territorianes listening this morning, I guess
there's no guarantee, but you're hoping that that incentive to
the GPS is going to mean that they'll do it.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well. The first thing I'd say is that you know,
some of the gps I've noticed have just asked for
an increase in Medicare funding with no strings attached. I mean,
I can't do that in good faith as the Health minister. Yes,
I want to increase money to general practice because it's
such an important part of our health system, but I
also want to get better outcomes for patients in bulk billing.
(03:14):
I mean for labor that was the core promise of
Medicare forty one years ago. So we are going to
tie the funding so GPS will only get the additional
funding if they bold build those patients. But we've also
crunched the numbers. I've got really good information about what
GPS charge. We get that through the Medicare system, and
our modeling shows that the vast bulk of doctors will
(03:37):
be better off if they bold build patients under the
new funding arrangements that we've put in place. Now, it
doesn't mean every single Australian will be bulk builled, you know,
gena Ryan Hart's still going to have to pay a
co payment probably, but it does mean that we can
get to a position we're confident where nine out of
ten visits to the doctor will be completely free.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Now, we just spoke of the AMA here in the
Northern Territory, doctor Robert Parker, and he said, you know,
he wonders whether it's time for an overhaul of the
models when it comes to you know, when it comes
to Medicare, and whether we need a relook at the
way in which not just those payments but the way
in which it's delivered.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, I think he's entirely right about that, and that's
something I've been working pretty closely with the AMA on
now for a couple of years. I Mean, the truth is,
you know, when Medicare was set up in the eighties,
patients were quite different. You know, we didn't have a
lot of chronic disease. Generally, people just went to the
doctor when they fell off the ladder or they got
you know, got a virus, and they got fixed up,
(04:39):
and off they went again until they fell off the
ladder again. And that's really how the Medicare system is
still set up. It's set up for fixed episodes of care. Nowadays,
though more and more patients have pretty complex chronic disease
like diabetes and heart disease and the rage of other things,
and they don't just go for single episodes of care,
(05:00):
getting ongoing care from not just a doctor, but often
a team of nurses, diabetes educators and so on and
so forth. And the AMA is right, but the Medicare
system hasn't really kept up with that change in the
nature of our population. And we've got to work on that,
there's no question about that. But my first challenge, our
(05:21):
first challenge, my first challenge as health minister has been
affordability and we've both billing dropping off. After that ten
years of funding being caught and neglected under the last government,
we're just hearing gap frees arising. More and more Australians
are choosing not to go to the doctor because they
can't afford it, and that's really the immediate challenge. Yes,
(05:42):
the AMA is right, we need to work on some
of these longer term reforms.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well, yeah, you spot on. I mean, we are in
a situation where it is bloody expensive to go to
the doctor, to put it, really mildly to go and
SEEUGP And what you find then with some of the
families struggling with cost of living is they put it off.
They put it off and then you wind up, you know,
having to go to the emergency ward for whatever that
issue might be. I mean, you know, the cost factory
(06:07):
is obviously a huge part, but the other factory is
not being able to get in to see the GP.
And I do note that one of the other parts
of this announcement is the fact that the government's going
to deliver more doctors and nurses into medicare four hundred
nursing scholarships, the largest GP training program in Australian history,
as well funding the training of two thousand new gps
(06:29):
a year by twenty twenty eight. What's it going to
mean for people in regional parts of Australia, you know places.
I mean we here in Darwin consider ourselves not a
regional part, but I know that very often it is
considered regional. And then when you go even more remote,
how are we going to ensure that we see some
of those you know, some of those doctors and nurses.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Well, the first thing I'm really excited about is the
medical school opening in Darwin. Luke Gosling, you know, my
colleague up there in the Federal Parliament argued so strongly
for that university up there put together a really good case.
So really opening the first full medical school in Darwin,
it's going to make a real difference.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
It has been delayed though, hasn't it. Sorry, I thought
it had been delayed slightly.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, I mean it's I don't know about that, but
certainly you know, when it's up and operating, it's going
to be churning out medical graduates in Darwin, who I'm
confident will end up working in the territory. We've also
had to make it much easier to be able to
recruit overseas trained doctors who do a lot of the
(07:39):
heavy lifting in regional communities, so outside our very big cities,
and we've cut over the last little while, we've cut
a lot of red tape to ensure particularly doctors from
systems that we're very confident about, so systems very much
like ours and talking the UK Island New Zealand are
able to get here much more quickly, much more cheaply,
(08:01):
and already that's really lifting the number of overseas trained
doctors and nurses we're able to get into the country.
They want to come and work here for obvious reasons.
It's a great country, great system, and over the last
couple of years we've seen more doctors registered in the system,
Australian trained and overseas trained, than we've seen for more
(08:21):
than a decade. So we've got more work to do,
there's no question about that. Sunday announcement was about training
more Australians into medicine and nursing and midwifery, but we've
been working on a range of other things to ensure
that people have access no matter where they're living in
the country that they have access to the world's highest
quality healthcare.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
If you have just joined us on the line, we've
got the Federal Minister for Health Mark Butler. Now, Minister,
it would be well, I need to ask you because
it is top of the agenda for so many Territorians
at the moment. Health Scope indeed announcing plans to close
the maternity ward at the Darwin private Hospital amid closures
across the country. It means locals are going to have
(09:02):
to have their babies at Royal Darwin Hospital or potentially
going to state to access private hospital facilities. How concerning
is the reduction in private health services for you, as
the federal health Minister.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Very concerning. I've had a number of discussions with Luke
Gosling about this as well as obviously others who impacted.
It's particularly impacting Darwin and TASMANI where I am right now,
where health Scope has closed its hospital in Hobart as well,
but did a lot of birthing services and maternity services.
So you know, this is obviously causing a lot of
(09:38):
distress to families who've been banking on that option and
frankly paid their hard earned cash to private health insurance
at Gold level insurance, which is the only level at
which you get maternity cover, expecting that they'd be out,
there'd be a private hospital. They're ready to give them
that service when the time came, so you know, we're
(10:01):
watching it very closely. My understanding is that the insurers
and the NT government are working very closely to ensure
that there is an appropriate level of service that reflects
that investment the families have made when it comes time
to give birth to their beautiful babies. And we stand ready,
whether it's Tasmania or the NT to that matter, to
(10:22):
provide any support that we need to to ensure that
that happens. But my advice is that insurers and the
NT government are working really well on that beyond Darwin
and Hobart where it's really hit over the last couple
of weeks, and there are broader challenges we have in
the system to ensure that people who do families who
(10:42):
do pay their harder and cash for pilate health cover,
can be confident that they'll get the service when they
need it, particularly for maternity services. And I've pulled together
the hospital sector, private hospital sector, that is insurers, the
AMA and others put some ideas before them about how
we stop this happening more broadly across the country.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I think it's a discussion that absolutely needs to be had.
You mentioned in a moment ago that that should the
Northern Territory need some support, that's something that you'd look at.
What could that support look like.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, they haven't come to us yet. Obviously, you know,
we have a very close dialogue. I have that my
department has that with every state minister and department. The
health systems are so interconnected, so you know, my advice
is that the NT government's working really well. They've got
that in hand. The insurers, as they should, are coming
(11:36):
to the party because at the end of the day,
they've received all that revenue from Northern Territory families and
Tasmanian families who've been paying their insurance premiums. So they
should really do the heavy lifting here and my advice
is that they are doing that. But if there's anything
we can do as the Commonwealth, obviously I've indicated that
to the ntg Luke knows that Luke Goseling knows that
(11:59):
where ready to do what we can, recognizing that ultimately
these are private operations. Yeah, big private insurers, big private
hospitals and a health Scope. It's a very big operation.
It's a global private equity firm that's made a lot
of money out of this. These private operators that deal
(12:20):
with billions and billions of dollars of hardare and cash
from Australian famili it's have an obligation to make sure
they deliver a service.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, does there need to be some kind of legislative
change to ensure that they do that? Because I certainly
take on board what you're saying. I mean they've made
millions and millions of dollars of Australians paying for their
private health insurance. Then to learn you know that they're
not only if they're expectant mums not going to be
able to go into that maternity war. But we've also
been contacted by listeners who are part of you know,
(12:51):
other private insurers and have no cover as of March
four due to an ongoing stash of course with health Scope,
so they're part of the Australian Health Services aligance. I'm
sure that these are issues that you're all over. People
are furious about this.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Totally. I mean pretty robust negotiations between the insurers and
the hospitals has been a hallmark of a system for decades,
but they've got pretty robust over the last little while.
Health Scope and Booper Booper is probably the second largest
insurer in the country. They were looking very very difficult
(13:30):
those negotiations until recently they landed a deal. And the
alliance you talk about with this group of smaller insurers,
I mean I've said to all of the insurers and
the private hospital of operators, get around the table and
fix this like it is not about your interests. It's
about the interests of all of your members and patients
who put their hardware and cash on the table to
(13:52):
get cover. You've got an obligation to sort out your
negotiation and come to a deal. And I say that
again to health Scope in the alliance.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Well, and it also is potentially going to become a
bigger issue for you. I mean if Australians wind up
in a situation where they feel like there's no point
in paying for that private health insurance and they end
up dropping it. And we see, you know, situations around
Australia where different you know, different facilities are closing down
as a result of those private insurers not seeing them
(14:22):
as being viable any longer. All of those patients, all
of those people are going to wind up in the
public health system.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Aren't they exactly exactly, Which is why I'm really pleased
that it doesn't matter what your political color is. All
of the health ministers that I work with in all
jurisdictions bring a united sent for purpose to this at
the end of the day, whether a liberal, labor or CLP. Yeah,
you know, our job is to brither the best possible
(14:50):
healthcare system to all Australians. And thankfully when we come
up against some of these very big commercial operators who
we're making good money out of the Australian healthcare a system,
but they're not delivering to their patients or their members.
As a group, where we're completely united in making sure
that Australians get value from money.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Minister, I know you really pressed for time, but I
do just want to pin you on this. You know,
as we're talking about there with the Australian Health Services Alliance,
we've heard from a number of our listeners, including Territory
and Ken Moffatt. I understand he's also written to you
urging you to act on this situation as the Health Minister.
Is there anything that can be done to help the
(15:31):
parties come to a resolution on this for the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Well, look, I mean I think we've generally operated for
decades on the basis that these are commercial operators. And yes,
there are opportunities to push push the players into mediation
and things like that. There are some tools I have
at my disposal to really nudge or push these negotiations
(16:01):
over the line to settle a deal that's in the
interest of patients. You know, I have really urged, thankly
health Scope and the Alliance to do what they have
that Boopa and Healthscape did and land a deal and
if they don't, and if they don't, then I'll have
to look at some of those those levers that I
have at my fingertips.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
All right, well, Health Minister Mark Butler, I really appreciate
your time this morning. Thank you so very much for
joining us on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
My great pleasure.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Thank you.
Well, as we've just spoken to the AMA about we
know a big announcement this week with the Federal government
announcing the largest investment into Medicare since its creation over
forty years ago, eight point five billion dollars to deliver
an additional eighteen million bulk build GP visits each year.
Now it is well really the first time Labour's going
(00:21):
to expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians and create
an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill
every patient. We are also set to see hundreds of
nurses trained and thousands more doctors in the largest GP
training program ever. On the face of it sounds like
a fantastic announcement. How exactly is it going to work
(00:43):
and what's it going what is it going to mean
for Territorians. We'll joining us on the line is the
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler. Good morning to your minister.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning Katie, thanks so much for.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Your time this morning. Now, Minister, how exactly is this
going to work?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, for many years now, doctors have received an incentive
payment if they bulk build pensions and concession card holders,
and the year before last we tripled that incentive, so
they got even more money if they bold build those Australians.
And that's that's really worked very well. I mean, bulk
billing even for pensioners and concession card holders were starting
(01:21):
to drop across the country and it's turned that around
so now well more than ninety percent, comfortably more than
ninety percent of pension as a bulk build. And in
the in the territory, that led to a five percent
increase in bulk billing just last year alone. But for
people who don't have a concession card, and that doesn't
(01:43):
mean they're on high incomes, like the concession card cuts
out at about forty thousand dollars if you're a single
or seventy thousand dollars a year if you're a couple,
and those Australians have never received any support to be
bulk builled. So as you said, for the first time,
we're going to pay that in step entive to doctors
if they both build those Australians as well, And that's
(02:04):
a very big, huge increase to the amount of money
a doctor receives from the Medicare system for bulk building
those Australians. And on top of that, for the first
time we're going to pay an additional payment to general
practices who bulk bill all of their clients, all of
their patients who come through their doors. So it's the
biggest investment in bulk building. It's a lot of money,
(02:26):
eight and a half billion dollars, but the AMA says
nationally that's effectively the amount of money that Peter Dutton
ripped out of the system when he froze Medicare funding
ten years ago as Health minister.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Now, in terms of ensuring that this does actually get
passed on to those territorianes listening this morning, I guess
there's no guarantee, but you're hoping that that incentive to
the GPS is going to mean that they'll do it.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well. The first thing I'd say is that you know,
some of the gps I've noticed have just asked for
an increase in Medicare funding with no strings attached. I mean,
I can't do that in good faith as the Health minister. Yes,
I want to increase money to general practice because it's
such an important part of our health system, but I
also want to get better outcomes for patients in bulk billing.
(03:14):
I mean for labor that was the core promise of
Medicare forty one years ago. So we are going to
tie the funding so GPS will only get the additional
funding if they bold build those patients. But we've also
crunched the numbers. I've got really good information about what
GPS charge. We get that through the Medicare system, and
our modeling shows that the vast bulk of doctors will
(03:37):
be better off if they bold build patients under the
new funding arrangements that we've put in place. Now, it
doesn't mean every single Australian will be bulk builled, you know,
gena Ryan Hart's still going to have to pay a
co payment probably, but it does mean that we can
get to a position we're confident where nine out of
ten visits to the doctor will be completely free.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Now, we just spoke of the AMA here in the
Northern Territory, doctor Robert Parker, and he said, you know,
he wonders whether it's time for an overhaul of the
models when it comes to you know, when it comes
to Medicare, and whether we need a relook at the
way in which not just those payments but the way
in which it's delivered.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Well, I think he's entirely right about that, and that's
something I've been working pretty closely with the AMA on
now for a couple of years. I Mean, the truth is,
you know, when Medicare was set up in the eighties,
patients were quite different. You know, we didn't have a
lot of chronic disease. Generally, people just went to the
doctor when they fell off the ladder or they got
you know, got a virus, and they got fixed up,
(04:39):
and off they went again until they fell off the
ladder again. And that's really how the Medicare system is
still set up. It's set up for fixed episodes of care. Nowadays,
though more and more patients have pretty complex chronic disease
like diabetes and heart disease and the rage of other things,
and they don't just go for single episodes of care,
(05:00):
getting ongoing care from not just a doctor, but often
a team of nurses, diabetes educators and so on and
so forth. And the AMA is right, but the Medicare
system hasn't really kept up with that change in the
nature of our population. And we've got to work on that,
there's no question about that. But my first challenge, our
(05:21):
first challenge, my first challenge as health minister has been
affordability and we've both billing dropping off. After that ten
years of funding being caught and neglected under the last government,
we're just hearing gap frees arising. More and more Australians
are choosing not to go to the doctor because they
can't afford it, and that's really the immediate challenge. Yes,
(05:42):
the AMA is right, we need to work on some
of these longer term reforms.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well, yeah, you spot on. I mean, we are in
a situation where it is bloody expensive to go to
the doctor, to put it, really mildly to go and
SEEUGP And what you find then with some of the
families struggling with cost of living is they put it off.
They put it off and then you wind up, you know,
having to go to the emergency ward for whatever that
issue might be. I mean, you know, the cost factory
(06:07):
is obviously a huge part, but the other factory is
not being able to get in to see the GP.
And I do note that one of the other parts
of this announcement is the fact that the government's going
to deliver more doctors and nurses into medicare four hundred
nursing scholarships, the largest GP training program in Australian history,
as well funding the training of two thousand new gps
(06:29):
a year by twenty twenty eight. What's it going to
mean for people in regional parts of Australia, you know places.
I mean we here in Darwin consider ourselves not a
regional part, but I know that very often it is
considered regional. And then when you go even more remote,
how are we going to ensure that we see some
of those you know, some of those doctors and nurses.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Well, the first thing I'm really excited about is the
medical school opening in Darwin. Luke Gosling, you know, my
colleague up there in the Federal Parliament argued so strongly
for that university up there put together a really good case.
So really opening the first full medical school in Darwin,
it's going to make a real difference.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
It has been delayed though, hasn't it. Sorry, I thought
it had been delayed slightly.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, I mean it's I don't know about that, but
certainly you know, when it's up and operating, it's going
to be churning out medical graduates in Darwin, who I'm
confident will end up working in the territory. We've also
had to make it much easier to be able to
recruit overseas trained doctors who do a lot of the
(07:39):
heavy lifting in regional communities, so outside our very big cities,
and we've cut over the last little while, we've cut
a lot of red tape to ensure particularly doctors from
systems that we're very confident about, so systems very much
like ours and talking the UK Island New Zealand are
able to get here much more quickly, much more cheaply,
(08:01):
and already that's really lifting the number of overseas trained
doctors and nurses we're able to get into the country.
They want to come and work here for obvious reasons.
It's a great country, great system, and over the last
couple of years we've seen more doctors registered in the system,
Australian trained and overseas trained, than we've seen for more
(08:21):
than a decade. So we've got more work to do,
there's no question about that. Sunday announcement was about training
more Australians into medicine and nursing and midwifery, but we've
been working on a range of other things to ensure
that people have access no matter where they're living in
the country that they have access to the world's highest
quality healthcare.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
If you have just joined us on the line, we've
got the Federal Minister for Health Mark Butler. Now, Minister,
it would be well, I need to ask you because
it is top of the agenda for so many Territorians
at the moment. Health Scope indeed announcing plans to close
the maternity ward at the Darwin private Hospital amid closures
across the country. It means locals are going to have
(09:02):
to have their babies at Royal Darwin Hospital or potentially
going to state to access private hospital facilities. How concerning
is the reduction in private health services for you, as
the federal health Minister.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Very concerning. I've had a number of discussions with Luke
Gosling about this as well as obviously others who impacted.
It's particularly impacting Darwin and TASMANI where I am right now,
where health Scope has closed its hospital in Hobart as well,
but did a lot of birthing services and maternity services.
So you know, this is obviously causing a lot of
(09:38):
distress to families who've been banking on that option and
frankly paid their hard earned cash to private health insurance
at Gold level insurance, which is the only level at
which you get maternity cover, expecting that they'd be out,
there'd be a private hospital. They're ready to give them
that service when the time came, so you know, we're
(10:01):
watching it very closely. My understanding is that the insurers
and the NT government are working very closely to ensure
that there is an appropriate level of service that reflects
that investment the families have made when it comes time
to give birth to their beautiful babies. And we stand ready,
whether it's Tasmania or the NT to that matter, to
(10:22):
provide any support that we need to to ensure that
that happens. But my advice is that insurers and the
NT government are working really well on that beyond Darwin
and Hobart where it's really hit over the last couple
of weeks, and there are broader challenges we have in
the system to ensure that people who do families who
(10:42):
do pay their harder and cash for pilate health cover,
can be confident that they'll get the service when they
need it, particularly for maternity services. And I've pulled together
the hospital sector, private hospital sector, that is insurers, the
AMA and others put some ideas before them about how
we stop this happening more broadly across the country.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I think it's a discussion that absolutely needs to be had.
You mentioned in a moment ago that that should the
Northern Territory need some support, that's something that you'd look at.
What could that support look like.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, they haven't come to us yet. Obviously, you know,
we have a very close dialogue. I have that my
department has that with every state minister and department. The
health systems are so interconnected, so you know, my advice
is that the NT government's working really well. They've got
that in hand. The insurers, as they should, are coming
(11:36):
to the party because at the end of the day,
they've received all that revenue from Northern Territory families and
Tasmanian families who've been paying their insurance premiums. So they
should really do the heavy lifting here and my advice
is that they are doing that. But if there's anything
we can do as the Commonwealth, obviously I've indicated that
to the ntg Luke knows that Luke Goseling knows that
(11:59):
where ready to do what we can, recognizing that ultimately
these are private operations. Yeah, big private insurers, big private
hospitals and a health Scope. It's a very big operation.
It's a global private equity firm that's made a lot
of money out of this. These private operators that deal
(12:20):
with billions and billions of dollars of hardare and cash
from Australian famili it's have an obligation to make sure
they deliver a service.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Well, does there need to be some kind of legislative
change to ensure that they do that? Because I certainly
take on board what you're saying. I mean they've made
millions and millions of dollars of Australians paying for their
private health insurance. Then to learn you know that they're
not only if they're expectant mums not going to be
able to go into that maternity war. But we've also
been contacted by listeners who are part of you know,
(12:51):
other private insurers and have no cover as of March
four due to an ongoing stash of course with health Scope,
so they're part of the Australian Health Services aligance. I'm
sure that these are issues that you're all over. People
are furious about this.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Totally. I mean pretty robust negotiations between the insurers and
the hospitals has been a hallmark of a system for decades,
but they've got pretty robust over the last little while.
Health Scope and Booper Booper is probably the second largest
insurer in the country. They were looking very very difficult
(13:30):
those negotiations until recently they landed a deal. And the
alliance you talk about with this group of smaller insurers,
I mean I've said to all of the insurers and
the private hospital of operators, get around the table and
fix this like it is not about your interests. It's
about the interests of all of your members and patients
who put their hardware and cash on the table to
(13:52):
get cover. You've got an obligation to sort out your
negotiation and come to a deal. And I say that
again to health Scope in the alliance.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Well, and it also is potentially going to become a
bigger issue for you. I mean if Australians wind up
in a situation where they feel like there's no point
in paying for that private health insurance and they end
up dropping it. And we see, you know, situations around
Australia where different you know, different facilities are closing down
as a result of those private insurers not seeing them
(14:22):
as being viable any longer. All of those patients, all
of those people are going to wind up in the
public health system.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Aren't they exactly exactly, Which is why I'm really pleased
that it doesn't matter what your political color is. All
of the health ministers that I work with in all
jurisdictions bring a united sent for purpose to this at
the end of the day, whether a liberal, labor or CLP. Yeah,
you know, our job is to brither the best possible
(14:50):
healthcare system to all Australians. And thankfully when we come
up against some of these very big commercial operators who
we're making good money out of the Australian healthcare a system,
but they're not delivering to their patients or their members.
As a group, where we're completely united in making sure
that Australians get value from money.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Minister, I know you really pressed for time, but I
do just want to pin you on this. You know,
as we're talking about there with the Australian Health Services Alliance,
we've heard from a number of our listeners, including Territory
and Ken Moffatt. I understand he's also written to you
urging you to act on this situation as the Health Minister.
Is there anything that can be done to help the
(15:31):
parties come to a resolution on this for the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Well, look, I mean I think we've generally operated for
decades on the basis that these are commercial operators. And yes,
there are opportunities to push push the players into mediation
and things like that. There are some tools I have
at my disposal to really nudge or push these negotiations
(16:01):
over the line to settle a deal that's in the
interest of patients. You know, I have really urged, thankly
health Scope and the Alliance to do what they have
that Boopa and Healthscape did and land a deal and
if they don't, and if they don't, then I'll have
to look at some of those those levers that I
have at my fingertips.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
All right, well, Health Minister Mark Butler, I really appreciate
your time this morning. Thank you so very much for
joining us on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
My great pleasure.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Thank you.
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