Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Accessible, affordable health care is one of the things I and most Australians value. It underpins our quality of life. It's part of the Australian way of life. Prior to the introduction of Medicare 40 years ago, medical bills were the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in this country, as they still are in many places around the world. Now it's unheard of here.

Since this government tripled the bulk-billing incentive, we've seen 5.5 million additional bulk-billed visits in the past 12 months, addressing the slide in bulk-billing rates we inherited from those opposite. We know that over a million Australians were going without their medication prior to the minister introducing cheaper medicines, cutting the co-payment, freezing PBS prices and introducing 60-day prescriptions—two months medication for the price of one.

We've open 75 bulk-billing urgent care clinics across the country, and soon they will have seen a million patients. The Marion urgent care clinic in Boothby opened almost exactly a year ago today and has seen over 11,000 patients through its doors. It is fully bulk-billed. That's 11,000 fewer people in emergency departments or waiting for care. This government is committed to protecting Medicare from the Leader of the Opposition, who was voted by doctors as the worst-ever health minister, and the shadow Treasurer, who has threatened to cut, cut, cut.

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