AMA says health the key election issue

The Australian Medical Association wants the coalition and Labor to make health the key election campaign issue.

The AMA wants the coalition and Labor to make health the key election campaign issue. (AAP)

The peak doctors' lobby wants the coalition and Labor to put health policy first and whoever wins the election must start by ending the freeze on the Medicare benefits patient rebate.

Australian Medical Association president Brian Owler said health policy would be at the core of the 2016 election.

So far in the campaign, health has featured only fleetingly, along with education, tax, jobs and asylum seeker policy.

Professor Owler said the next government must significantly invest in the health of the Australian people.

"Investment in health is the best investment that governments can make," he said in a statement.

The AMA wants an end to the freeze on the Medicare Benefits Schedule patient rebate, which it says pushes up costs to patients and makes medical practices less viable. That was introduced by Labor in 2013 and extended to 2020 by the coalition.

It also wants:

* more certainty for hospital funding;

* an end to removal of incentives for doctors to bulk bill pathology and imaging services;

* better training for the medical workforce; and

* tackling of chronic disease.

Professor Owler said elections were about choices and the type of health system we want is one of these crucial decisions.

"We offer policies that come from the experience of doctors who are at the coalface of the system, the doctors who know how to make the system work best for patients," he said.