Doctors have split over the Turnbull government's health budget, with the NSW arm of the peak lobby group going rogue to describe it as a "crushing blow" for GPs that won't improve affordable access to healthcare.
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The federal president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, welcomed the government's health policy reset - particularly the early lifting of the controversial freeze on Medicare patient rebates - but the AMA's leadership in NSW has broken ranks to brand it a major disappointment.
State President Brad Frankum??? says the "small and incremental" increases to the Medicare bulk billing incentive and Medicare rebate are not enough.
"This is not an encouraging start and we won't see patients' Medicare rebates indexed again until July next year," Professor Frankum said.
"At this rate it will be many years before patients see an appreciable difference in out-of-pocket costs.
"This is a crushing blow for general practice in NSW and continues to be an ongoing problem for specialists and the patients who need their care in this state."
Under Tuesday's budget, the government will gradually lift the Medicare rebate freeze, starting this year with bulk billing incentives for GP consultation, then other GP and specialist consultations in 2018, specialist procedures in 2019 and finally targeted diagnostic imaging services in 2020.
The measures will cost the government $1 billion over the forward estimates but only $9 million in the first year.
Dr Gannon took a more pragmatic approach than his NSW counterpart, saying the government's blueprint would begin to win back much of the goodwill it lost with the disastrous 2014 Abbott budget.
He said while he would have preferred to see the freeze lifted across the board from July 1, he believed the phased process would at least give GPs and specialists certainty and security.
The government also used the budget to announce a 0.5 per cent increase to the Medicare levy from July 2019 to help pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The rise will cost many taxpayers hundreds of dollars a year.
The government will also establish a Medicare Guarantee Fund to secure funding for Medicare and the PBS. Proceeds from the Medicare levy - minus what pays for the NDIS - will be paid into the fund, which will also be topped up with a portion of personal income tax receipts.
The government has struck new partnerships with the pharmacy and medicines sectors to deliver cheaper drugs. It has also reversed proposed cuts to bulk-billing incentives for diagnostic imaging and pathology and scrapped proposed changes to the Medicare Safety Net.
Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King said the budget was a "massive insult" made up of "smoke, mirrors and fake guarantees".
"The failure to drop the freeze immediately will impact on many of Australia's most vulnerable patients - such as those needing critical oncology treatment, obstetric services, and paediatric treatment," she said. "Australians will have to wait more than 12 months for relief - and will be left waiting more than two years for the freeze on specialist procedures and allied health services to be lifted."
Professor Frankum also criticised the government's $2.8 billion increase in public hospital funding as a "drop in the ocean".
