As data today from the AIHW has confirmed record high wait times for health care are soaring in Australia, experts from the industry have started calling out the Morrison Government, and 207 days of the same inaction since the 2019 election

In a media release the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association have today described the Morrison Government as having no real plan for action when it comes to healthcare for all Australians.

The release reads:

Our questions to Minister Hunt and the Morrison government this Christmas are:

• How longwill you continue to ignore the evidence that private health care is too expensive for many Australians?
• How long will you continue to ignore the increased waiting times for care that are the result of under-investment in primary care and public hospitals?
• How long do Australians have to wait until you do something about it?
• With 6 years in government already behind you, and more than 2 years ahead of youwheres the real plan for strengthening our health system?

This scathing and honest release comes only one day after a published opinion piece from Dr Tony Bartone, President of the Australian Medical Association.

Dr Bartone poses the following questions:

• Is it time to call out the government and, in particular, the Minister, for not really being across his portfolio in a future-proofing way, but rather being still very much focused on cost containment?
• How long before the penny drops in government and the wider community that 10% of GDP is never going to fund the current demand-driven activity in our health system?
• How long before we accept that we need to change the model of healthcare from a disease-driven activity model to a proactive, preventative, co-ordinated and integrated one?
• How long must we fumble along without an overarching vision and keep trying to tinker with different parts of the health service, hoping to eventually cobble a complete puzzle?
• How long before we understand that without patient-centred primary care, which is properly resourced with infrastructure and co-ordinated integration, that we will keep seeing worsening clinical outcomes for our patients and the population as a whole?

According to the Governments own figures, around 1.3 million Australians per year skip or delay Medicare services due to cost.

This is while waiting lists in hospitals for surgeries are at record highs and patients struggle to receive the health care they need.

Labor created Medicare and will always fight to defend and improve universal access to health care.

Under the Liberals, out of pocket health costs have never been higher and waiting lists have never been longer.

Its past time they did something about it.