NOW that the concept of a Medicare co-payment is dead, buried and cremated, to use Prime Minister Tony Abbott's words, it is up to the health professionals to step up and show what will work.
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The government dumped the co-payment on Tuesday after a retreat spanning months - the co-payment retreated from $7 to $5 and now there's a continued freeze on Medicare rebates.
The health profession is still nervous, that the freeze will drive up costs. So, let's hear from them.
The cost of Medicare and the private health insurance rebate is now almost $30 billion a year, or equal to the entire cost of the health system a decade ago.
At the same time the means-tested Medicare levy has fallen in value from 67 per cent of expenses to 54 per cent.
The health profession knows that a sustainable national health system, involving a taxpayer component, has to be structured in a way that contains costs while providing an affordable service.
Australia has a national health system which is the envy of the western world. It is affordable but it must be sustainable in the budget context. At $67 billion a year, health comprises 16 per cent of total government outlays. This is the third-highest expenditure.
This figure has doubled over the decade because of the rampant nature of health inflation.
New Health Minister Sussan Ley did not look convincing on Tuesday in her Canberra press conference to bury the co-payment, although she has only been in the job three months and will gain confidence.
She appears ready to engage and consult with the health profession and is travelling the country to gain input. This is what Mr Abbott promised in his reset era of "good government" - more consultation and more listening.
The AMA and other health professionals ought to jump at the chance. They should be lining up with others to assist with good policy and prudent spending of our money.
