Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Cohealth is one of Victoria's largest community health providers. It is a lifeline for people who too often fall through the cracks. They deliver complex multidisciplinary care with GPs, nurses, social workers and mental health and allied health professionals working together to support those with chronic conditions or disabilities or who are experiencing homelessness. This vital care is being squeezed by a Medicare system that simply can't keep up. Medicare rewards short, repeat appointments, not the complex consultations for those with multiple health needs. Now, up to 12½ thousand patients risk losing care when cohealth's Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington clinics close. These people will face out-of-pocket fees at already strained private-billing clinics, fill overstretched urgent care and emergency departments or, worse, forego care altogether, worsening health inequities and driving up costs across the system.

We are in a primary health crisis. The small increase to the bulk-billing incentive next week does little when the Medicare rebate fails to reflect the real cost of comprehensive care. Cohealth has done the work in raising the alarm and making repeated federal budget submissions yet still faces closure. Why are we punishing what should be the gold standard of community primary care—accessible, multidisciplinary, bulk-billed services? Today I'll table a petition with over 6,000 signatures that calls on the federal and Victorian Labor governments to step in and save cohealth before it's too late. Medicare is a proud Australian legacy, but, under Labor, it is crumbling. Let's save cohealth and secure sustainable funding for the excellent, equitable care that Victorians deserve.