Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hear a bit of babbling in the background by government members. The thing is that this is a scheme that was badly designed from the year dot—from when it was put in place in 2004. It has no upper end for out-of-pocket expenses and that is the flaw in this.

This is a scheme that needs to be investigated and the money should be put to better use. If nothing else, in a health budget that has a whole host of measures that run counterintuitively to each other, this is the scheme that needs to be looked at, because it is absolutely flawed on the basis that it does not help those that it is intended that it help. It has an upper benefit where people get just the percentage of the out-of-pocket expenses without putting a cap on those out-of-pocket expenses. Also, in fact, there is greater access to a whole host of medical and health services that gain these out-of-pocket rebates in these electorates that I have mentioned that are not based on equity but are based on specialists et cetera operating in these types of electorates. If we are really looking at things that give access and equity to proper health services, we should be looking at the Medicare Safety Net scheme—(Time expired)

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