‘Scrap the cap’: Backlash against Federal Government limit on veteran health services
The Federal Government is alone over its new $5000 limit on health services for veterans, after politicians across other parties overwhelmingly rejected the move.
Veterans are now calling to "scrap the cap" completely, concerned their healthcare will now rest with the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
The Federal Government is alone over its new $5000 limit on health services for veterans, after politicians across other parties overwhelmingly rejected the move. 9News
Former navy clearance diver John Armfield visited parliament this week and stood alongside fellow veterans who all laid down their medals in protest of the change to their healthcare.
“The key person who can hold a veteran together and save, and fix this problem, is the general practitioner,” Armfield, a Fair Care for Veterans advocate, told 9News.
A new veterans affairs policy will cap government supported payments for allied health services at $5000 annually from July 1 next year.
It will replace the existing 12 visit per provider limit.
The changes have united Coalition, One Nation, Greens and independent Senators who all voted against it in the final hours of a sitting session in parliament this week. 9News
This currently can be extended by a GP but under the changes, requests for additional funding will need to be approved by the department.
The changes have united Coalition, One Nation, Greens and independent Senators who all voted against it in the final hours of a sitting session in parliament this week.
“Stay cool and stay calm veterans,” independent Senator Jacqui Lambie said.
“Apart from the Labor Party, you have the rest of us on your side.”
Fellow independent Senator, David Pocock, said he was left scratching his head over the changes.
“I hear from veterans about just how hard it is to get the support they need to be well, [so] why on earth is the government adding more paperwork,” he said.
Nationals Leader Matt Canavan said the Labor party needed to “take away this anxiety from the veteran community”.
The vote in the senate was largely symbolic and will be knocked back in the lower house next week.
It’s a move though that adds pressure on the government to justify this new policy.
"We very much understand the concern that some veterans have about the department processing requests," Minister for Veteran Affairs, Matt Keogh, said.
"We'll be working with them to make sure that they get the best outcomes and that they'd have no gap in service delivery while that assessment's being made with DVA."
But for veterans, the fight against the financial cap continues.
"We remember, please do the right thing," Armfield pleaded.
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