Older Australians will be shocked by many of the recommendations contained in the Commission of Audit in the areas of health care, pensions and aged care, says leading seniors advocate COTA Australia.
Chief Executive Ian Yates said older people are the major users of Australia’s health care system, so introducing co-payments for GP visits, emergency departments and medicines will mean basic health care is compromised for many seniors, and this will be counterproductive to containing health care costs.
“In the lead up to the last election COTA asked older people what issues they were most concerned about,” Mr Yates said.
“First up was access to health services with quality, affordability and availability their main concerns.
“If the Commission of Audit recommendations are adopted, many older people will be badly out of pocket, or they will not go to their GP to have their health issues diagnosed. They will consequently get sicker and end up in expensive tertiary hospital care and with more limited life expectancy.
“Putting barriers in the way of people looking after their health at the cheaper end of the health system – a visit to the GP or getting the medicine they need – will only end up putting more pressure on the system at the more expensive end – surgery and hospital admissions.
“In addition, locking higher income earners out of Medicare and charging others high co-payments even for emergency care sets Australia up for the likes of an American health care system which is one of the most expensive in the world and with poor outcomes – totally unsustainable over the longer term.
“COTA would strongly urge the government to carefully consider the probable negative impact of some of these recommendations and implement a proper review before making any decisions on them.”
Mr Yates said he was also disappointed about suggested changes to aged care, which while picking up the Productivity Commission’s 2011 recommendations on inclusion of the family home in the assets test for care, ignores the key Productivity Commission trade-off for that – removing rationing of aged care and opening up aged care to market forces.
“It’s mystifying that the Commission wants to charge people more for aged care but not allow them access to it – seems they were very poorly advised or took their eyes off the ball on this issue,” Mr Yates said.
Mr Yates again welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to keep his election promise on the age pension and not change the pension in this term of government.
“The Commission of Audit recommends many conflicting changes to the age pension, but it does at least
acknowledge the need for a more comprehensive look at the ageing population and retirement.
“This needs to happen before any changes are made to the pension – including looking at superannuation concessions which the Commission stunningly completely ignores. Higher income earners, like the Commissioners, all benefit enormously by superannuation concessions, while most pensioners receive little or no benefit.
“It’s time for a truly independent and fair review of retirement incomes,” Mr Yates said
Media contact: Ian Yates 0418 835 439, Olivia Greentree 0439 411 774