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 Home News General
Medicare Turns 20 But Still Experiencing Pain01 October 2003The unofficial birthday of Medicare is today with October 1 1983 being the date that the original legislation was first given royal assent. HSU national secretary Craig Thomson said it was a perfect opportunity to remind people what an Australian icon Medicare was and how much more needed to be done to preserve it. "What we have is rapidly decreasing rates of bulk billing which means low paid families are finding it hard to get the medical care they deserve and more and more people are turning to the overcrowded hospital system," he said. "The Federal Government has a $7.5 billion surplus it could use to help fix the system but it prefers not to. "Instead Mr Howard appoints bully-boy Abbott to the health portfolio to continue its destruction." Mr Thomson also criticised the Mr Howard for publicly claiming he supported Medicare while at the same time doing everything he can to run it down. "John Howard used to have a reputation as honest John and at that time he said Medicare was 'one of the great failures of the Hawke government' and needed to be pulled apart," Mr Thomson said. "He cannot be believed now and his actions, as always, speak louder than his words." |
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© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
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