THE federal government has scrapped its controversial $20 cut to rebates for short GP visits.
The move came three days before it was due to be introduced across the country on Monday.
Health Minister Sussan Ley said the decision was made after concerns were raised about whether it would improve patient care and tackle the problem of “six-minute medicine”.
The proposal included cutting rebates for consultations lasting up to six minutes from $21 to $16 and for those lasting more than 10 minutes by $5 from $37.05 to $32.05.
Rebates for visits between six and 10 minutes were to drop $20.10, from $37.05 to $16.95.
The proposal raised the ire of the Labor Party, the Greens and some cross benchers in the Senate who vowed to quash the $20 cut with a disallowance motion, when Parliament resumes next month.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said sanity had prevailed and praised the minister for listening to general practitioners and their patients.
The college strongly advised against the government’s proposal and ran an online petition which gained 44,000 signatures in less than seven days.