The Albanese Labor Government’s Budget will expand access to affordable imaging services in Barton.
The 2024-25 Budget will expand Medicare coverage to five MRI machines at locations across the St George area:
- St George Public Hospital
- Southern Radiology Hurstville
- Lumus Imaging Kogarah
- Castlereagh Imaging at Waratah Private Hospital and
- Dr Glenn and Partners Medical Imaging Kogarah
Linda Burney, Member for Barton visited St George Public Hospital Tuesday to speak with imaging staff about how full Medicare licenses will make access to MRIs more affordable.
They were joined by Ms Samah Hassan, Operations Manager, St George Public Hospital.
St George Hospital performed over 4,300 MRI examinations in the 12 months to May – on average 350-400 MRIs per month.
Previous expansions of MRI eligibility in regional and rural Australia made it easier to get an MRI, while increasing bulk billing and reducing out-of-pocket costs by close to 10%.
The Budget includes $69.8 million to increase Medicare eligible MRI machines across Australia, almost tripling the number of fully funded MRIs from 227 to 620 since Labor came to government.
Quotes attributable to Linda Burney, Member for Barton
“The 2024–25 Budget builds on the major investments to strengthen Medicare in the Albanese Government’s first two Budgets.
“This Budget delivers better public funding of MRI services at St George Public Hospital, and at four other machines in Barton.
“For the thousands of people receiving these examinations these upgraded licenses will help to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses and increase the range of services available to patients across our local community.”
