Brough calls for GP payment to be dumped

A Liberal MP has called for the co-payment on GP visits to be dumped, as questions swirl about Tony Abbott's leadership.

Queensland MP Mal Brough says Medicare spending on GP visits is not out of control. This contradicts the message from the government since it unveiled the co-payment in the budget last May.

The government initially wanted to impose a $7 co-payment on Medicare rebates but switched to a $5 reduction in the rebate to GPs late last year in the face of widespread opposition.

Brough told a meeting of medical professionals on the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday it was more cost-effective for governments to spend money on GP visits than on hospitals.

Government spending on GPs may not have flatlined but it wasn't out of control, he said. In contrast, spending on hospitals had a "trajectory going north rapidly".

"I am suggesting to the government that we should be taking the co-payment off the table, full stop," he said. "I don't think it makes economic sense and I don't think it makes health sense."

Caption: Mal Brough (Image courtesy of APN Australian Regional Media)

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