Reverse the Privatisation of the University Health Practice: No Gap Fees!
Reverse the Privatisation of the University Health Practice: No Gap Fees!
The issue
The University Health Practice has shamefully introduced $10 gap fees on all standard appointments for students. This is simply an attack on students’ right to affordable healthcare.
In June 2021, Adelaide Uni sold off the University Health Practice to the for-profit provider Better Medical, with a promise by the university to guarantee that bulk billing would continue. The university has now broken its own commitment to students by allowing the $10 gap fees and refusing to step in and prevent this halt to bulk billing. We think university management has an obligation to step in and restore bulk billing.
The university, despite its claims, is hardly short of money, having raked in a massive $201 million operating surplus in 2021 and holding hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and investments. They have every means available to step in and restore this vital health service.
The introduction of gap fees by the University Health Practice is a symptom of a broader crisis in Australia’s healthcare system. For many years now both Labor and the Liberals have presided over a slow but steady erosion or bulk billing by refusing to increase healthcare funding. In South Australia, bulk billing is already as low as 64.4%– lower than the national average with a significant decline over two years. This has come at a time when students and workers are facing a broader cost-of-living crisis. There is a danger that more students will avoid visits to the doctor to avoid costs or will skip meals and other essentials to pay. Moreover, students have no guarantee that fees will not be increased in future years. The only way we can fight back against the Americanisation of our healthcare system is through building a mass campaign. We must show the profit-driven university management that we will not accept this attack!
We, the undersigned, demand that the university commit to:
-Scrapping their contract with Better Medical and bringing the University Health Practice back under the ownership of the university, with accountability to students
-Opposing any privatisation of the University Health Practice
-Opposing all gap fees and to guarantee funds to maintain bulk billing
The issue
The University Health Practice has shamefully introduced $10 gap fees on all standard appointments for students. This is simply an attack on students’ right to affordable healthcare.
In June 2021, Adelaide Uni sold off the University Health Practice to the for-profit provider Better Medical, with a promise by the university to guarantee that bulk billing would continue. The university has now broken its own commitment to students by allowing the $10 gap fees and refusing to step in and prevent this halt to bulk billing. We think university management has an obligation to step in and restore bulk billing.
The university, despite its claims, is hardly short of money, having raked in a massive $201 million operating surplus in 2021 and holding hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and investments. They have every means available to step in and restore this vital health service.
The introduction of gap fees by the University Health Practice is a symptom of a broader crisis in Australia’s healthcare system. For many years now both Labor and the Liberals have presided over a slow but steady erosion or bulk billing by refusing to increase healthcare funding. In South Australia, bulk billing is already as low as 64.4%– lower than the national average with a significant decline over two years. This has come at a time when students and workers are facing a broader cost-of-living crisis. There is a danger that more students will avoid visits to the doctor to avoid costs or will skip meals and other essentials to pay. Moreover, students have no guarantee that fees will not be increased in future years. The only way we can fight back against the Americanisation of our healthcare system is through building a mass campaign. We must show the profit-driven university management that we will not accept this attack!
We, the undersigned, demand that the university commit to:
-Scrapping their contract with Better Medical and bringing the University Health Practice back under the ownership of the university, with accountability to students
-Opposing any privatisation of the University Health Practice
-Opposing all gap fees and to guarantee funds to maintain bulk billing
Petition Closed
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Petition created on 28 February 2023