Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

The Health Insurance Amendment (Prescribed Dental Patients and Other Measures) Bill 2023 seeks to amend the Health Insurance Act 1973 with three administrative changes, which are all supported by the coalition. From the outset, can I put on the record our thanks to the cleft palate community for their engagement on this extraordinarily important piece of legislation for them and the people they look after, and can I reiterate my commitment and the commitment of the coalition to working closely with them to ensure better outcomes for young Australians impacted by cleft palate and craniofacial conditions.

Importantly, this bill will improve access to the Medicare Benefits Schedule for eligible persons requiring treatment for cleft and craniofacial conditions by removing the age restrictions, which currently are at 22 years of age. Schedule 2 also enables Services Australia to use computerised systems to action decisions made by a specified body to place doctors on or remove doctors from the Register of Approved Placements. Schedule 3 includes some technical changes to the bonded medical program, including rectifying inconsistencies between the act and the rule about the length of a bonded participant's return of service obligation.

This legislation has arisen following the findings of the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce report on the cleft palate dental services MBS item in 2020. The report suggested that the current age limit of 22 years for eligible persons requiring treatment for cleft and craniofacial conditions be lifted. Age limits for access to the scheme were initially established on the basis that patients with cleft and craniofacial conditions would generally have completed most specialist dental work associated with their condition once facial growth was complete—on average 22 years of age. However, there continue to be a small number of patients who are denied treatment on the basis of the age limit in circumstances where that treatment would be clinically beneficial to the patient's condition and their general health. This bill will also serve an important purpose of enabling patients who have had their surgeries deferred beyond the age of 22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic to access Medicare benefits for the treatment that they still require.

Cleft lip or palate conditions affect one in every 800 babies born in Australia. The bill will not significantly alter average patient numbers, but it will nevertheless serve the important purpose of supporting improvements to patients' treatment plans. This will ensure that support is available for all Australians affected by these conditions and make it fairer and more equitable for young people needing cleft palate and craniofacial procedures to access those procedures, regardless of their age.

The coalition absolutely supports the intention of this bill to improve access to affordable and life-changing procedures for those Australians impacted by these conditions, and we absolutely support increased access to critical health care through Medicare. However, we are concerned by the lack of action this government has taken to date to address the challenges currently facing Australians in their access to medical support and treatments more generally. Despite all their rhetoric on Medicare, Labor has slashed Medicare-subsidised health supports in half, cutting 70 telehealth items from Medicare and overseeing plummeting bulk-billing rates since coming to government.

At a time when Australians are struggling with skyrocketing energy bills, mortgage repayments and grocery bills, we are seeing the cost of going to the doctor putting significant pressure on households as well. The government must start taking real and urgent action to ensure that all Australians have affordable access to health care, particularly during this cost-of-living crisis, and to ensure that all Australians have equitable access to essential health care, no matter what their postcode. Because we know rural, regional and remote Australians face unique and disproportionate challenges in accessing health care, particularly during this serious workforce crisis, the coalition remains absolutely committed to ensuring the sustainability of Medicare and to ensuring that all Australians have access to Australia's world-class health system.

In government we increased Medicare funding every year. In fact, total annual funding for Medicare increased under the coalition from $19 billion to $36 billion a year, an increase of over $1 billion annually. In addition, the introduction of universal telehealth under the coalition was the most significant reform to Medicare since its creation. This saw more than 100 million telehealth services delivered under our government, ensuring greater and more flexible access to healthcare support for over 17 million Australians, including, importantly, patients in rural, regional and remote Australia. We know how important it is to address the tyranny of distance faced by rural patients and to ensure all patients have access to the supports they need when they need them, where they need them. That's why this bill is so important. All patients requiring life-changing treatment should have affordable and equitable access to that treatment, where that is possible. That is absolutely undeniable, and it is essential to the lives of patients.

I wish to acknowledge the cleft palate community and their engagement with this legislation. We thank them for their ongoing engagement and for sharing their personal stories, and we appreciate the important advocacy that they provide on this very important health matter. The coalition understand their concerns and the issues raised around the inadequacy of current support offered through speech pathology sessions and we will work with them and the government to address this. We remain committed to solving their plight. We also appreciate the government's engagement on this issue and their commitment to working with us towards meaningful change and to finalising a program that fully addresses the wishes of the cleft palate community. The coalition looks forward to continuing to work collaboratively in the best interests of all Australians living with cleft palate conditions. Once again, we support this bill, in recognition of the important access to life-changing procedures that this legislation will provide to young Australians impacted by cleft palate and craniofacial conditions.