Australia Government touts free healthcare hotline as general election nears
The Hindu
Labor government pledges to enhance Australia's healthcare system with free medical advice line and telehealth service if elected.
Australia's Labor Government on Sunday (April 27, 2025) pledged to bolster the country's universal healthcare system with a free medical advice line and telehealth service if it wins the May 3 General Election, in which cost-of-living pressures loom as a key issue.
Centre-left Labor traditionally sees its protection of Australia's Medicare universal healthcare scheme as a key differentiator between it and the conservative Liberal-National opposition, which bills itself as superior on economic management and border protection. The government has sought to make Medicare a core election issue, pledging in February an extra A$8.5 billion ($5.43 billion) for the scheme, amid concerns about reduced levels of bulk billing - a payment option where doctors bill Medicare for their services so patients have no out-of-pocket expenses.
On Sunday (April 27, 2025), Health Minister Mark Butler said on Australian Broadcasting Corporation television that the new hotline would deliver 24-hour access to medical staff, "intended to cover circumstances where people need to be seen immediately."
"When illness or injury strikes in your family, 1800MEDICARE will be there - a 24/7 health advice line and after-hours GP telehealth service backed by Medicare," Butler added in a statement, which pegged the measure's cost at A$204 million. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to announce the policy on Sunday (April 27, 2025) in New South Wales' capital, Sydney, Australia's most populous city and a critical election battleground.
Peter Dutton, leader of the Liberal-National coalition and Albanese's main political opponent, has pledged to spend A$9 billion on Medicare if his conservative side of politics wins Government on May 3. Early voting in the election, which polling shows Labor holding a slim lead over the Liberal-National coalition, began on Tuesday (April 22, 2025). The campaign has been dominated by cost-of-living relief pledges and rival plans to boost housing affordability.
($1 = 1.5642 Australian dollars)
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