General Practice Students Concerned Graduates Will be Deterred by Co-Payment

General Practice students have raised concern  the co-payment model will deter medical graduates from pursuing a career in general practice.
The General Practice Student Network (GPSN)  supports the amendments which seek to protect vulnerable individuals within our population from co-payment but does not support the continued push through of the $5 cut to the Medicare rebate for non-concession services.
GPSN’s National Chair for 2015, Nicola Campbell, stated that, “These changes to general practice funding will reduce wages for GPs, but of greater concern to me is that it will likely serve as a deterrent for many medical graduates to pursue a career in general practice. "As such a critical and cost effective part of the health care system, we need to encourage students to pursue it as a specialty, and support GPs in all stages of training. ”
"General practitioners are the cornerstone of the Australian healthcare system and provide an unrivalled continuity of care which allows the delivery of health promotion and prevention as well as management. "This proposal will seriously reduce the attractiveness of general practice as a career choice to a whole generation of medical students.
GPSN’s National Vice Chair Rajdeep Ubeja agrees.
“These changes effectively force general practitioners to accept the significant pay cut or charge patients. In the long term this will lead to fewer doctors in areas of need and less interest in general practice as a career.”
"As the future of primary health care we believe it is imperative to focus our attention on the evolving health needs of our nation. In doing so, we would hope that the importance of primary health care is recognised, and the role of the general practitioner be supported."