The federal government is under pressure from its own backbench to reverse a decision to halve subsidised psychological visits.
Key points:
- The federal government will cut subsidised psychologist visits from 20 to 10 in January
- Labor MP Josh Burns says he wants Health Minister Mark Butler to reverse the decision
- He says people need more support, not less
Victorian MP Josh Burns, who represents an inner Melbourne electorate, said he wanted Health Minister Mark Butler to reconsider his plan to slash support from 20 to 10 subsidised visits within weeks.
On Monday, Mr Butler said the new government would abandon additional support offered to people on mental health plans during the peak of the pandemic.
"I think we need to reconsider this decision," Mr Burns said in a statement.
In August 2020, the number of sessions available through the Better Access program was temporarily increased from 10 to 20.
It allows people to obtain cheaper sessions with psychologists and other mental healthcare professionals.
Mr Butler released a review of the program on Monday, but that review did not recommend the extra 10 be abandoned.
Rather, it recommended patients undergo a review after 10 sessions, instead of the review that currently happens after six visits.
"The additional 10 sessions should continue to be made available and should be targeted towards those with complex mental health needs," the review states.
"If the additional 10 sessions are retained, the review could occur after the initial 10 sessions.
Mr Burns said he had talked with the health minister since the decision was announced.
He said the two agreed it was important to improve access to mental health services for all Australians.
"However, I believe that whilst there are real challenges in managing access to services, the answer is not to reduce support for those who need it," Mr Burns said.
"For those people who require more than 10 sessions of Medicare-funded mental healthcare, the extra sessions can be the difference between someone's anxiety increasing or being effectively managed.
"It can be the difference between everyday functioning — participating with family, friends, at school or work — or not coping at all."
In cutting the extra sessions, Mr Butler said while the Better Access program had offered benefits for people using it, not everyone had been able to access it equally.
He cited the need to do more to support people in rural and low socio-economic areas.
The Coalition and psychologists have called on the government to reverse its decision.
But Mr Butler all but ruled that out on Wednesday.
"This decision has been taken by the government," he told the ABC.
"But we've also said that we would have a look at the evaluation very closely with the sector and work out how we can improve this program.
"The problem is that those additional services weren't having a benign effect, they weren't having a neutral effect on the scheme, they were having the effect of cutting tens of thousands of Australians out from getting any support whatsoever in a highly inequitable way across the community."