AMA renews Medicare freeze pressure

The Australian Medical Association is renewing its call for the coalition to lift its freeze on Medicare rebates, saying it helped Labor's claims resonate.

Medicare healthcare cards in Sydney

File. Source: AAP

The Australian Medical Association is using the election outcome to renew its call for the government to lift the freeze on Medicare rebates.

Responding to Malcolm Turnbull's admission the coalition must work harder to rebuild the public's trust over health policy, the AMA head said the freeze - and previous attempts to introduce a GP co-payment - helped Labor's claims resonate during the campaign.

"Other elements of coalition policy lent themselves to the scare and I think they paid for it at the polling booth," AMA president Michael Gannon told ABC radio on Wednesday.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the freeze remains government policy.

"We need to make sure these things are affordable," he told ABC radio.


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Source: AAP


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