Medicare ahead by a mile in popularity stakes

[Violet_Crumble]

If a popularity contest was staged for Australian government programs Medicare would walk into the final.

When an Essential poll asked voters in 2011 what they thought about eight of the biggest federal government policy decisions of the modern era, Medicare received overwhelming support. Almost eight in 10 said Medicare was good or very good. Just one in 17 thought it was bad or very bad. Approval of Medicare was far higher than either floating the Australian dollar (46 per cent said good) or free trade agreements (41 per cent said good).

Even so, Joe Hockey’s first budget is set to make a landmark change to Medicare by introducing a co-payment for GP consultations.

“There is no such thing as a free visit to a doctor,” the Treasurer says.

But trends in public opinion suggests the Abbott government has set itself a tough assignment convincing voters to embrace changes to Medicare.

The public’s allegiance to Medicare is at odds with its contentious beginnings. Australia’s first universal health care scheme – the Whitlam government’s Medibank – was introduced after a protracted and bitter political battle. The law to create it was rejected repeatedly in the Senate and it required a double-dissolution election in 1974 and the first-ever joint sitting of parliament for it to pass. That scheme only operated for about a year before the Fraser Coalition government began to dismantle it triggering a general strike in1976. By 1981, Medibank had been abolished and Australia reverted to a system of voluntary private insurance, subsidised by government. The Hawke Labor government then introduced Medicare in 1984.


Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/medicare-ahead-by-a-mile-in-popularity-stakes-20140510-zr8pm.html#ixzz31OuuVsxj