Major Medicare change coming for Australians after Anthony Albanese’s historic election win: What you need to know
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will invest $204.5million into a new, free nationwide health advice line aimed at easing pressure on hospitals.
Expected to launch in January, the 1800-Medicare service will allow Australians to call any time to speak with a nurse and receive free GP telehealth consultations for urgent issues.
Labor says the service could prevent up to 250,000 unnecessary visits to emergency departments each year by giving people a safer, more convenient alternative for after-hours care.
‘Life isn’t 9 to 5. With 1800-Medicare, neither is health care,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘Whether your family needs urgent or ongoing health care, under Labor, Medicare will be there for all Australians, in every community.’
Anyone who needs urgent GP care for something like an emergency prescription or treatment for a short-term illness or injury, can be connected to a free telehealth consultation with a GP between 6pm and 8am.
‘Whether you need expert health advice or reassurance, the registered nurses at 1800-Medicare will be there all day, every day, to provide advice and refer you to the health service you need – whether that’s your regular GP, the local hospital or a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic,’ Health Minister Mark Butler said.
‘If you need urgent GP care that can’t wait for your regular GP to be available, the triage nurses will connect you to a free telehealth session with a 1800-Medicare GP via phone or video, available all weekend and weeknights between 6pm and 8am.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will invest millions in a new free nationwide health advice line, aimed at easing pressure on hospitals
‘A 1800-Medicare GP will provide the free care you need, like an emergency prescription for your regular medication, or treatment for an illness or injury.’
Campaigning on reducing living costs, Mr Albanese made health a focal point during the election.
He frequently held up his Medicare card as a symbol of his commitment, promising to expand access to bulk billing and urgent care clinics.
In his election night speech, he again held up his Medicare card to reinforce that message.
‘We will be a government that helps every Australian who relies on Medicare,’ he told the cheering crowd.
‘Because this card is not Labor red or Liberal blue, it is green and gold. It is a declaration of our national values, in our national colours.
‘Medicare belongs to all Australians and together we will make it stronger for all Australians.’
With 70 per cent of the vote counted, Labor has won 85 seats with the Coalition going backwards to sit on 35 seats, while 19 seats remain in doubt.
Campaigning on reducing living costs, Mr Albanese made health a focal point during the election, frequently holding up his Medicare card
Labor saw large swings across multiple states, booting the coalition out of all seats in Tasmania and Adelaide, while making significant gains in Opposition heartland in Queensland.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed on Sunday the two reasons why Labor won such a historic landslide: voters’ desire for stability and Anthony Albanese.
‘One of the reasons we gained such a big majority last night is that people recognised that if they wanted stability while the global economy was going crazy, then a majority Labor government was the best way to deliver that,’ he told ABC’s Insiders.
And that desire for stability amid an increasingly uncertain world found its answer in Albanese, who Chalmers described as a ‘Labor hero’.
The Treasurer insisted he was keen ‘not do dance on the political graves of our opponents’ but then continued: ‘There was a real kind of darkness at the heart of the Coalition’s campaign, this kind of backwards looking pessimism, which Australians rejected
‘And in rejecting that I think they embraced the kind of leadership which Anthony Albanese provides which is practical, pragmatic, it is problem solving and it’s very forward-looking.’
