#ausvotes

Greens Health Policy

• Summary

  The Greens health policy is one that supports the financially and socially marginalized; low income earners, Indigenous Australians and women seeking terminations. Typically, the Greens advocate support of the public health system as opposed to investing in the private health system in which low income earners cannot participate. They advocate intense investment in primary healthcare and preventative healthcare, and specifically, mental healthcare.

  
  

  More

  Quality health care is a basic human right to the Greens, and they believe that governments are responsible for providing all people with access to resources in order to maintain their health. To accomplish this successfully a skilled workforce must be maintained through increased quality and quantity of education & training in numerous disciplines. To ensure equity and efficiency in the expending of resources, a public universal health system that places the interest of patients ahead of all else, must be adopted. To avoid unnecessary waste of these resources, primary health care must be applied together with preventative health care; health promotion, disease prevention and early intervention will ease pressure on hospitals. The Greens are adamant that Australia needs to prepare for changing disease patterns as a consequence of climate change, now not later, and this includes formulating responses to pandemics.

  
  

  The Greens envisage our universal health care system to extend to fund more research and to cover primary dental care. In particular, the Greens want low income earners to benefit from a funded dental program that provides essential dental care and an examination every two years. They are focused on providing better quality primary health care in Australia, including to this end, more access to General Practitioners by increasing intake numbers at universities, and a reinforcing of preventative health and acute in patient care. Most fervently, through culturally appropriate and community controlled programs, the Greens want to see Indigenous people with the health and life expectancy of other Australians. They want additional funding for 24 hour community mental health services that are staffed by a full range of mental health professionals, funding for mental health educational services, and early detection and prevention of mental health with community based support. Specifically the Greens want to implement assessment and suicide prevention services.

  
  

  In particular, the Greens support the Medicare system that is funded through progressive taxation. Additionally they advocate that the private health insurance health rebate be terminated and these funds targeted toward public health services. They want more incentives for specialists to bulk bill, and increased primary health care services in rural Australia with incentives for medical professionals to relocate to remote areas. The Greens want legislation to protect and expand the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and to ensure that regulatory bodies are populated with members that are independent from undue influence. Legislation in particular must ensure that those chronically ill are able to benefit from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme when they return to the work force in low paid occupations.

  
  

  Practical measures the Greens want instituted include legislation to promote healthy choices and a ban on junk food advertising on children’s television, restrictions imposed on pharmaceutical advertising and also that to prevent health professionals being lobbied by pharmaceutical corporations.

  
  

  The Greens support abortion and want all women to have free, legal and safe procedures including unbiased counselling. By the same token, the Greens want to ensure women have access to a range of birthing services.

  
  

  The Greens want a better standard of food labelling in respect of its origin, contents and nutritional value.