Bill Shorten is delivering another cruel hoax to patients to justify another Mediscare campaign in an attempt to make himself Prime Minister.
Bill Shorten's attempt to scare people about pathology ignores the facts:
Pathology bulk billing rates for out of hospital services have increased from 97.7 per cent under the Coalition to 99.3 per cent last financial year and continue to grow, up to 99.4 per cent in the first half of this year.
This is perhaps his silliest scare campaign yet.
He's pretending an increase to over 99% is a crisis when in fact it is an extraordinary outcome.
Not only is it a ridiculous campaign given an increasing bulk billing rate at over 99 per cent, it doesn't offer patients any extra money. But it will give large corporates more money.
And in another admission of failure, Labor has now conceded it's much promised funding for a new state health agreement won't occur until at least 2025 - not until after the next agreement.
The Morrison Government is delivering an additional $31 billion, with six of the states and territories already signed on to our new agreement.
Overall health funding is growing, with $24 billion over the forward estimates to treat cancer plus $1 billion for cancer research, with a proton beam therapy centre being established at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Centre to deliver the most advanced treatment.
But people should remember Bill Shorten's track record.
As Assistant Treasurer he failed to manage the budget, and as a result, he stopped making medicines available on the PBS.
If you can't manage the economy, you can't manage health.
The Morrison Government is delivering a strong economy to fund the essential health services, including more than $10.6 billion in new medicine listings.
