BY CHRIS SLEE
MELBOURNE — Medical care is "a right not a privilege", declared Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard on May 14. Hubbard was launching a campaign to defend and extend Medicare.
Hubbard said people need to "get out on the streets" to defend universal health care. He called on trade unions to inform their members and hold workplace meetings on the issue. Hubbard urged the formation of local campaign groups and a central umbrella group.
Greens activist Pamela Curr said the attacks on Medicare are part of the federal government's neoliberal agenda. She noted that US health company lobbyists have made submissions to the World Trade Organisation demanding access to health markets around the world. They claim that government involvement in health care is "interfering with the market".
Jacob Grech from OzPeace described the link between the attacks on Medicare and increased spending on war. There has been a shift of resources from health and education to the military. "Howard is paying for the war in Iraq with his Medicare card", Grech said.
Rob Wilson, the chief executive officer of the Inner East Community Health Service, spoke of the difficulty of maintaining bulk-billing given the inadequate rebates paid to doctors. "In many ways, Medicare is already dead", he said. Already, many sick people don't go to a doctor because they can't afford to pay. Some doctors are refusing services to people who owe them money.
Wilson mentioned the plan of the Medicare Action Group, a coalition of 100 organisations, to carry out research and advocacy work and to develop local networks, focusing particularly on key Liberal- and National Party-held electorates.
Marilyn Beaumont, executive director of Women's Health Victoria, said that many people already face a choice between buying food or paying for medical care. She argued against relying on workplace-based health insurance schemes, pointing out that such schemes don't help people in insecure jobs; insurance coverage can be lost if a company "goes bust".
Joe Toscano, a general practitioner and activist with the Defend and Extend Medicare group, said the government's attack on Medicare is part of an "ideological war". During the first 80 years of the 20th Century, people had, through militant struggle, forced the state to take responsibility for the welfare of citizens. But over the past 20 years, the state has absolved itself of this responsibility. "The only way to roll back these changes is through direct action", Toscano reminded the audience.
Defend and Extend Medicare aims to establish a group in every federal electorate to put pressure on government and opposition parties.
Toscano warned against relying on the opposition parties to block the changes in the Senate, pointing out that many of the changes can be made by administrative decision without Senate approval. Toscano also spoke of the need to extend Medicare to dentistry, physiotherapy and alternative medicine.
From Green Left Weekly, May 21, 2003.
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