Doctors must stay at their posts while Canberra searches for a cure

As part of the $900 million Fairer Medicare package, the government proposed to increase medical student numbers, add 150 places to GP training programs, pay higher Medicare rebates to doctors who bulk-bill health-care cardholders and introduce a safety net for low-income families with out-of-pocket expenses from doctor visits of more than $500 a year. The government is considering further ways to strengthen the safety net and increase affordable access to doctors.

Bulk-billing is important but it's not the heart of Medicare. Medicare is universal medical insurance providing high-quality, affordable health care, not free trips to the doctor.

The health portfolio faces other challenges such as ensuring continued access to life-saving and life-enhancing drugs at reasonable cost to taxpayers and consumers, ensuring affordable access to aged care facilities, and minimising the squabbling between federal and state governments which is an unedifying but seemingly inevitable feature of Australia's constitutional arrangements.

None of these issues can be resolved overnight but the government will do its best to make a difference and will try above all else to avoid playing politics with people's health.