New Medicare fund heads to Senate

Labor won't stand in the way of a new fund the Turnbull government says will guarantee Medicare even though it believes it has no practical impact.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen told parliament on Monday the proposal, announced in the May budget, was merely an accounting trick.

"We're not going to oppose it, we're going point out the hypocrisy of the government and we're going to point that it's a gimmick ... it doesn't guarantee anything," he said.

The federal opposition tried to delay the legislation's passage through the lower house after debate was cut short on Monday evening.

It still had a number of MPs who wanted to speak on the issue but the government used its numbers to gag them to ensure the bill reached the Senate before parliament breaks for the long winter break on Thursday.