Victorian Medicare Action Group (VMAG) | ||||||
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| VMAG Aims and Strategy | ||||||
 The Victorian Medicare Action Group is a coalition of organisations and individuals who are concerned that universal access to health care is being eroded by the reduction in bulkbilling rates and the increase in charges to consumers for GP services. VMAG members are individuals and organisations including churches, welfare agencies, local councils, ethnic groups, community health centres, women's health services. Anyone can join. >> more
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| VMAG News | ||||||
VMAG urgently needs your support. You can help VMAG's campaign in a number of ways. These could include:
The speech given by Julia Gillard at a recent congress in Sydney, for the first time, makes reference to a National Health Reform Commission to be established by the Labor Government if elected, and secondly makes reference to the development of a National Primary Health Care Strategy. You may recall that these have been 2 areas which were central to our Consumer Medicare Charter and which we have been pressing for inclusion in Labor Party policy.
A number of VMAG member organisations have been invited to submit to the Senate Select Committee's investigations into the Federal Government's MedicarePlus package. Download a draft of VMAG's
key points on this issue as these may help in your efforts.VMAG has recently written a submission (draft only) to the State Government Parliamentary Inquiry into Medicare. | ||||||
| Rallies, Meetings and Things of Interest | ||||||
| Community Forums on Medicare are planned for the Federal Electorates of McMillan, McEwan, Corangamite and Gippsland. | ||||||
| Musos for Medicare | ||||||
 Musos for Medicare is a network of artists who are interested and concerned about what is happening with public health services within Australia. As artists musicians tend to be contractors rather than employees and work in a low paid casualised environment. As such, they understand the difficulties in accessing and paying for health care. A part from this musicians also lead lives often requiring them to work at unusual hours in unusual places, sometimes for unusual audiences. >> more | ||||||
| See images from "Musos for Medicare" launch held at Dizzy's Jazz Club, Richmond on 20 November 2003
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| VMAG Bulletins and Other Documents | ||||||
| Today's featured file is Bulk Billing Crisis Report - July 2004 (pdf) >> more files to download
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| Consumer Stories | ||||||
These stories describe real situations in which people have had trouble accessing health care services. This may be because there have not been services available, or because they are too expensive to access for many people. People may be forced to go without treatment, to seek it in hospital emergency departments, or simply to take un-prescribed, over-the-counter medication, for example - "Isobel's local GP of many years recently ceased bulk billing, and she cannot afford the $36 each time she needs to see a doctor for her complex health problems. She now has to find someone to drive her to a GP, thirty minutes away." >> more 
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| Useful Links | ||||||
| Today's featured link is Australian Labor Party - Save Medicare >> more links | ||||||
| More Information | ||||||
| If you would like more information or wish to join the VMAG email group, please call Maureen Murray on 03 9429 1855 or email her at mmurray@iechs.org.au
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| Last updated 8 October 2004 | ||||||
