Federal Labor Health Minister, Mark Butler, has urged the Allan Government to reconsider its unfair Health Tax, warning that investments in Medicare “will be lost to increased payroll tax obligations by general practices”.
Under the Allan Government’s Health Tax, payroll tax calculations now include doctors and other health professionals who lease rooms from medical practices, rather than only direct employees of the practices themselves.
This follows warnings by patient engagement provider, HotDoc, that Labor’s new Health Taxwill increase average GP appointment costs from $40.10 to $52.00, an almost 30 per cent increase.
Mr Butler urged the Allan Government to consider an alternative model where doctors under lease agreements are exempt if the patient fees and out of pocket expenses are paid directly to doctors.
Shadow Minister for Health, Georgie Crozier, said: “The Premier and the Treasurer need to listen to their federal Labor counterparts about their Health Tax.
“We are in a cost-of-living crisis and this tax will only drive-up costs for everyday Victorians to visit a GPwhile driving the most vulnerable into already stretched emergency departments.
“The Allan Government wouldn’t listen to health professionals, patients, and community members, so they need to listen to their federal Labor colleagues and must scrap this unfair Health Tax.”
