A controversial Medicare change requiring patients to physically or electronically sign for every claim has been delayed after warnings it could make it harder for vulnerable Australians to access healthcare.
The federal government has delayed controversial changes to Medicare claiming after widespread concern they would make it harder for some of Australia’s most vulnerable people to access bulk-billed healthcare.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Doctors are sounding the alarm over Medicare changes
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
The new rules, due to begin next week, would have removed the option for patients to verbally agree to a Medicare claim, instead requiring a physical or electronic signature for every consultation and every claim.
Doctors and aged care providers warned the changes would create major barriers for patients who are unable to sign for themselves, despite provisions allowing a representative to do so on their behalf.
“I just think it’s fraught with danger,” aged care paralegal Bindy Marshall told 7NEWS.
“They haven’t thought it through basically,” GP Dr John Carlyle added.
Marshall said 95 per cent of clients at her service could not sign for themselves, with all of them in a dementia unit.
“You can’t expect a power of attorney or public guardian to turn up for each visit,” Carlyle said
Odyssey disability advocate Phil Usher said making Medicare claims harder could discourage people from seeking care.
“If you want to save money, you make something hard. and then people don’t use it,” he said.
Advocates warned the additional compliance requirements could leave aged care facilities with little choice but to send vulnerable residents to hospital, rather than to their GP.
“The facility are going to have no option but to bundle them up in an ambulance and send them to hospital,” Marshall said.
Following the backlash from the aged care and medical sectors, the federal government has introduced a 12-month transition period, delaying the new requirements while leaving the legislation unchanged.
