PALASZCZUK LABOR ABANDONS SICK REGIONAL QUEENSLANDERS
- Labor cuts funding to critical scheme that helps regional Queenslanders access proper health care
- While in Government LNP doubled the patient travel subsidy scheme – Labor has now scrapped those increases
- Labor is short-changing sick regional Queenslanders
The Palaszczuk Labor Government has delivered cuts to a key program that provides support to regional Queenslanders trying to access proper health care.
Labor has axed increases to the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme made in 2012.
Patients across regional Queensland are being short-changed and abandoned by this ‘do-nothing’ Labor Government.
Annastacia Palaszczuk has cut funding to the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme, with a boost provided by the LNP in 2012/13 not renewed.
Is it any wonder regional health services are delaying or denying reimbursements of payments since funding dried up in 2016 under this Labor Government?
The Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme is a critical part of ensuring all Queenslanders get access to medical treatment and care by offering subsidies to cover the cost of accommodation for regional Queenslanders undergoing treatment away from home.
Next week’s budget is an opportunity for Labor to right the wrongs of the 2016 budget and re-instate the extra funding that the LNP had provided.
Labor is failing the sick and ill in regional Queensland as it sits on its hands on this issue.
The Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme Ombudsman’s Report, released yesterday, provides an opportunity for Labor to tackle poor administration of the scheme, but the real issue is Labor’s slashing of funding to the program.
It was the LNP that doubled the patient travel subsidy scheme in 2012 from $30 to $60 per night, the first time it had been changed in more than two decades.
Only the LNP will provide a better health system for all Queenslanders.
