Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

but the fact is that the government have bungled the implementation of those recommendations, and, once again, Australians are going to be left out of pocket or, worse, in life-threatening conditions because of this incompetence.

I remind the House, and those interjecting, that this is not the first time the government have ventured down this road. In November 2018 they presided over the debacle that saw patients left out of pocket, spinal surgeries delayed and doctors unable to provide patients with informed consent about potential gap fees. Back then those changes involved only 70 spinal surgery items. Next month we are looking at over 1,000 surgery items. One might say that the government have failed to learn their lesson, but I say that it's not in their DNA to protect Medicare. They've got eight days to fix this problem and demonstrate that Medicare, which Labor installed, is worth protecting—but I'm not holding my breath!

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