- The Guardian
- Issue #2141
Increasingly patients visiting their local GP are being told, “sorry we don’t bulk-bill anymore, just can’t afford to keep the practice open if we do.” Instead of signing a Medicare form for their doctor to receive a rebate, they are being asked to pay out $35, $40, $45 or much more for longer consultations and procedures. Then they often have to chase up Medicare for a partial refund.
Doctors are being forced to charge fees because successive federal governments have deliberately driven down rebate payments (in real terms) with the purpose of destroying Medicare by stealth.
Bulk-billing with its no-fee, universal access for patients is central to Medicare.
The decline in bulk-billing rates is making things very tough for bulk-billing doctors and their patients. It has serious repercussions. Doctors who continue to bulk-bill find their waiting rooms become more crowded, and demands on their time and services increasing. House calls and nursing home visits are becoming a luxury they can ill afford.
The logjam is now affecting the Accident and Emergency Services of all public hospitals. The sick and elderly are paying a high price for the federal government’s anti-Medicare, anti-bulk billing agenda.
There have been massive increases in less serious hospital presentations. In rural NSW there are an increasing number of towns where bulk billing is not available.
The taxpayer-funded private health insurance rebate which is costing the health care system $8 billion (and rising) a year to subsidise a failed industry, should be scrapped. It is public money and should be spent on Medicare and our ailing public hospitals.
The re-election of Donald Trump and the resurgence of fascism internationally have intensified threats to workers’ rights, democratic institutions, and social progress. Fascist movements are exploiting economic insecurity and cultural anxieties, promoting xenophobia, nationalism, racism, and sexism to advance the interests of their billionaire backers and monopoly capital.
In this context, the historic World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) remains a vital force for international working-class solidarity, offering a model for resisting fascism and defending workers’ rights in the 21st century.
Last month, the WFTU held its 2025 Presidential Council Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. Delegates focused on the situation currently facing the international working class, surveyed the rising influence of fascism, and emphasised the need for enhanced ideological and trade union education, stronger sectoral and regional offices, and increased support for working youth and working women.
Eighty years after its founding, the WFTU continues to fight for the rights of workers around the world, including refugees and migrant workers, women, and marginalised groups. It continues to uphold the fight against racism, xenophobia, and fascism – struggles that, throughout the organisation’s long history have always been central to its identity.
PARASITES OF THE WEEK: are the free trade advocates. So-called “free trade” is a strategy employed by capitalists to further dominate the working class. Whether through Trump’s protectionist policies or under neoliberal “free trade,” the end goal for capitalism remains consistent: to enhance profits for a few while exploiting the many.
The mantra of free trade has always been that it promotes competition, and through that competition, the productive forces advance. The nations, companies, and workers who prove themselves insufficient are shaken out. Once the capitalist system as a whole descends into crisis, however, such principles go out the window – at least for the capitalists who are losing out in the competition.
