” It is unacceptable that Australia, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, cannot address health and social justice issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who comprise just three per cent of the population. Funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health is inadequate to meet the burden of illness.

Every year, the AMA says that this situation is not acceptable, and every year governments fail to implement the health plans, recommendations, and strategies that will deliver improvements and hasten the closing of the gap in health outcomes.

The 2018-19 Budget is an opportunity to start properly funding and resourcing Indigenous Health ”

Extract from

AMA Budget Submission 2018-19

AMA President, Dr Michael Gannon, said today that the culmination of key reviews, under the guidance of Health Minister Greg Hunt, provides the Government with a rare opportunity to embark on a new era of ‘big picture’ health reform – but it will need significant long-term investment.

Releasing the AMA’s Pre-Budget Submission 2018-19, Dr Gannon said the key for the Government is to look at all health policies as investments in a healthier and more productive population.

“The conditions are ripe for a new round of significant and meaningful health reform, underpinned by secure, stable, and sufficient long-term funding to ensure the best possible health outcomes for the Australian population,” Dr Gannon said.

“The next Budget provides the Government with the perfect opportunity to reveal its health reform vision, and articulate clearly how it will be funded.

“We have seen years of major reviews of some of the pillars of our world class health system.

“The review of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is an ambitious project.

“Its methods and outcomes are becoming clearer. Its best chance of success is if the changes are evidence-based and clinician-led and approved.

“A new direction for private health insurance (PHI) has been determined following the PHI Review.

“We must maintain flexibility and put patients at the centre of the system, but recognise the fundamental importance of the private system to universal health care.

“The Medicare freeze will be lifted gradually over the next few years.

“There is now a greater focus on the core health issues that will form the health policy battleground at the next election.

“There is no doubt, as shown at the last Federal election, that health policy is a guaranteed vote winner … or vote loser.

“Our Submission sets out a range of policies and recommendations that are practical, achievable, and affordable.

“They will make a difference. We urge the Government to adopt them in the Budget process.

“Health should never be considered an expensive line item in the Budget.

“It is an investment in the welfare, wellbeing, and productivity of the Australian people.

“Health is the best investment that governments can make,” Dr Gannon said.

The AMA Pre-Budget Submission 2018-19 covers:

·         General Practice and Primary Care;

·         Public Hospitals;

·         Private Health Insurance;

·         Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review;

·         Preventive Health;

·         Diagnostic Imaging;

·         Pathology;

·         Mental Health and the NDIS;

·         Medical Care for Older Australians;

·         My Health Record;

·         Rural Health;

·         Indigenous Health;

·         Medical Workforce;

·         Climate Change and Health; and

·         Veterans’ Health.

 The AMA Pre-Budget Submission 2018-19 is at https://ama.com.au/ama-pre-budget-submission

This Submission was lodged with Treasury ahead of the Friday, 15 December 2017 deadline.

Part 2 The gap in health and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians is still considerable, despite a decade of commitments to closing the gap.

NACCHO Aboriginal #EarHealthforLife @KenWyattMP and @AMAPresident Launch AMA Indigenous Health Report Card 2017:

The AMA values the progress being made in reducing early childhood mortality rates, and in addressing major risk factors for chronic disease, such as smoking. But if the Government is serious about building on this early but slow progress, it must create sustainable, long-term improvements by increasing funding and resourcing for culturally appropriate primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It must also increase and properly resource the health workforce.

Many of the chronic health conditions experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should not be endemic in a highly-developed country like Australia. Chronic diseases are known to be the main cause of the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians.

Despite some recent health gains for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, awareness and political will is frustratingly slow-moving. There is an urgent need for the Commonwealth to deliver on the well-documented research and national strategies showing how to tackle health inequalities and the social determinants of health.

Closing the gap in health outcomes means addressing: poverty; unhygienic, overcrowded conditions; poor food security and access to potable drinking water; lack of transport; and an absence of health services.

Every year, the AMA says that this situation is not acceptable, and every year governments fail to implement the health plans, recommendations, and strategies that will deliver improvements and hasten the closing of the gap in health outcomes.

The 2018-19 Budget is an opportunity to start properly funding and resourcing Indigenous Health.

AMA POSITION

The AMA calls on the Government to:

• prioritise Indigenous health funding in the 2018-19 Budget and fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services according to need;

• support measures to increase the uptake of MBS and PBS items;

• fund and implement the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan;

• adopt the recommendations in the AMA’s Report Cards on Indigenous Health, in particular the recommendations in the 2016 Report Card calling for a target to eradicate new cases of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD); and the recommendations in the 2017 Report Card to address ear health (otitis media);

• given the strong link between health and incarceration, support the justice reinvestment approach to health by appropriately funding services that divert Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from prison;

• commit to the principles of the Redfern Statement, which calls on all political parties to make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs a key election priority;

• meaningfully address the disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by reversing cuts to the Indigenous Affairs portfolio;

• reinvest in health, justice, early childhood, and disability services, as well as services to prevent violence;

• increase investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health organisations to build their capacity to be sustainable over the long term;

• recognise that chronic disease in Indigenous communities is inextricably connected to the social determinants of health such as: poverty; inappropriately designed, unhygienic, overcrowded housing conditions; inadequate access to affordable food and potable water supplies; and an absence of health services;

• acknowledge the wealth of existing reports, Parliamentary inquiries, strategies, and plans to improve Indigenous health and close the gap, and start to fund and implement them; and

• fund national training programs to support more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to become health professionals to address the shortfall of Indigenous people in the health workforce.