Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

'Do the button up.' 'Undo the button.' To see a specialist, gap fees have skyrocketed by more than 100 per cent. This didn't happen out of thin air. Australians remember that, after promising them that there would be no cuts to health, the then health minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, tried to introduce a tax on every single visit to the doctor by every single Australian, including pensioners, concession card holders—a tax that would have wrecked the model of Medicare that has been such a cherished part of our social fabric. So I say to the member for Bean and to all members of this House: get behind the fact that this government has made strengthening Medicare the centrepiece of our health policy because we know how strong Medicare can be.

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