Ageism
Today, on the news, we were advised that people over 50 would no longer receive a benefit from Medicare who received an MRI scan by their GP who referred them.
How on earth is this fair? Where on earth is this government coming from? As people age, their joints deteriorate, and need to have this kind of screening to know what to do next, to ensure some quality of life without pain. The excuse given by the government is that too many GP's are referring people when this kind of screening is unnecessary. Surly the onus shoud be on the expert, the medical practioner, to deem if this procedure is needed or not, NOT to deprive the over 50's patient! Write to Greg Hunt to show your outrage with this decision. I really hope Wenworth voters demonstrate with their ballots that this type of ageism behaviour will not be tolerated by the over 50's.
There will be no change to specialists requesting knee MRIs for any age group .... as it happens now the patients get knee MRI scans from both GP and speialist for the same condition, unecesarily exposing patients to exposure to radiation.
In my opinion this ruling should apply to all ages.