A New Year Brings Lower Drug Prices and Fewer Visits to Psychologists

The price of prescription medicine has gone down from $42 to $30 per prescription because both sides of the political aisle agree that the price is too high. This is one of the mixed blessings that the New Year has brought regarding our health care system.

The President of the Doctors Reform Society, Dr. Tim Woodruff, reacted positively to the news, stating, "That's great." The flip side of this situation is that the government has decided to cut the number of funded visits to psychologists from 20 to 10.

According to a review, the effect of having 20 (which has grown because of COVID) is that fewer new patients can see psychologists because they are too busy reviewing old patients.

https://twitter.com/woodruff_tim/status/1602435483925372928?s=20&t=q27z-mFzV4b4sda2DqifnA

So, to give a small number of patients a possible benefit by making sure they have many appointments, new patients don't even get their first appointment.

Dr. Woodruff said that the real cause of Australia's problems was the way the country paid for mental health services. The same is true for primary health care, care from specialists in the community, and care from a private hospital.

The problem is with the practice of paying a rebate for each visit and then telling health professionals (like doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists, and dentists) that they can charge a co-payment of any amount they want. It shows that a lot of people can't get medical care unless the doctor is willing to take payment in bulk.

Dr. Woodruff says that this makes "people suffer needlessly, and some die because they don't get the care they need." "That is not right, it is not ethical, and it ought not to be acceptable in a wealthy country," the speaker said.

It is past time to think about a viable funding model for medical facilities like Aboriginal Controlled Medical Centers and all public hospitals. Salaries are the typical compensation for professionals. Patients do not need to come up with a co-payment for their visit. Also, the hugely exaggerated "rorting" of Medicare that was recently found is not even close to possible.

Meanwhile, the Australian Psychological Society is dissatisfied with the Federal Budget that was passed in October, which came at a time when the community was about to enter the most stressful time of the year and when demand was at an all-time high.

"Mental illness and suicide cost the nation $220 billion per year, but the Federal Government continues to avoid structural reforms in mental healthcare," said the president of the American Psychiatric Society (APS), Tamara Cavanett, who was deeply concerned about the lack of investment and planning for mental health that was needed.

Also, the Productivity Commission concluded that small, well-targeted investments could save the federal government $18 billion per year if they were used in the health, social, and justice budgets.

"Despite record demand for psychologists and worsening cost of living pressure, there is no plan to increase accessibility and affordability for people in crisis and prevent long term pain for patients and taxpayers, even though there is a record demand for psychologists,” She said

One psychologist out of every three is currently unable to accept new patients. Before the pandemic, the risk was one in one hundred.

She said the fact that more than one million Medicare-subsidized sessions are still scheduled to be cut beginning December 31 is causing severe anxiety among patients as well as psychologists. The cost of the programme is slightly higher than one percent of the total annual expenditure on services related to mental health.

“In this time of crisis for mental health care, we must work to improve Medicare, not make it worse. “Patients have to pay significant costs even with the subsidy, so removing it entirely for millions of Australians who are eligible is like rubbing salt in the wound," She added.

"It is also very sad to see that mental health services for the elderly and the people who work with them will be severely cut in the coming year. This goes against the Royal Commission's suggestion that people who live in nursing homes should be able to get free mental health care. " Residents of elderly care facilities experience four times the amount of suicidal ideation, four times the amount of depression, and nine times the amount of anxiety as residents of community care facilities,” Cavenett said.

Tamara Cavenett, president of the APS, said that "a strong economy is based on a mentally able workforce" when she talked about why new investments are good for the economy. A better budget, an increase in total workforce participation and productivity, shorter wait times, and the potential to save lives are all benefits of investing in psychology.

"Prevention and early intervention are the treatment methods that are the most cost-effective overall, and they should be given priority when resources are limited. Spending money on school psychologists can generate a return of up to $10.50 for every dollar that is put in by itself,” she said.

Research has found that forty percent of young Australians attempted self-harm or were thinking about suicide during the pandemic. This finding is in line with the statistic that almost fifty percent of adult mental illness begins before the age of fourteen.

Even with these amazing numbers, the Federal Government is only hiring 35% of the number of psychologists it wants to hire. This is the biggest shortage of any mental health profession, and the situation is expected to get even worse in the years to come. 45 percent of people who work in psychology are over the age of 45, and 25 percent are over the age of 55.

She said a lot of critically important reforms have been sidestepped, including the following:

• Making permanent the ten additional psychology sessions that are available through Medicare for all Australians.

• Making psychological services available to older residents of residential care facilities a standard part of Medicare Maintaining a ratio of one psychologist for every 500 students across all types of educational institutions (public, private, and independent) Universities should receive the same level of funding as general practitioners, veterinarians, dentists, and psychiatrists.

• Replicating the incentives given to general practitioners to shift to regional areas for psychologists.

• Streamline the requirements for referrals to relieve pressure on both patients and general practitioners.

• Boosting the Medicare rebate that patients receive, and including placement psychologists on the list of professionals who are eligible for Medicare rebates