'40 years' of the Liberals wanting Medicare gone, Labor claims

Opposition deputy leader Tanya Plibersek says Labor has 40 years of evidence that the coalition wants to get rid of Medicare.

Ms Plibersek said when the Whitlam Labor government first introduced Medicare, the Fraser coalition government promptly privatised it.

The coalition had subsequently proposed a GP co-payment, sought to increase the cost of prescriptions and frozen the Medicare benefits schedule, she said.

"We have 40 years of evidence," she said on the ABC Q and A program.

"At every opportunity the Liberals are trying to get you to put your hand in your pocket and that is what a privatised American-style health system looks like."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Coalition would not privatise Medicare and there never had been any such plan and Labor had been caught out in a "desperate lie".

"It's because they don't have anything to say about the economy and jobs. They have to resort to these desperate scare campaigns," he said.