Budget review: Government slashing access to Medicare-funded psychology sessions

[Tam-I-Am]

Some of you might be aware that in the recent budget, it was announced that the Medicare Better Access to Mental Health funding is being slashed by nearly half. That is to say that as it stands at the moment, people can access 6 - 12 sessions in a 12 month period, and an extra 6 sessions (totally 18) under exceptional circumstances.

The government have taken it upon themselves to slash that access back to 6 sessions, total, with a further 4 (totally 10) under exceptional circumstances.

Most Australians who require treatment by a mental health professional require more treatment sessions than the capped number of 18 that are currently on offer - let alone a measly 10. This contravenes all that we know about appropriate access to mental health services. In short, this is the biggest step backwards that this country has seen in Mental Health Services for 30 years, and Australia's mental health services were not that good to start off with.

So what can you do?

1. Sign our petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/better-access-to-psychologists.html

2. VOTE at our GetUp campaign idea (comments are okay too, but you must VOTE for it to make a difference - 3 votes are better than 1): http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-campaign-ideas/suggestions/1833821-better-access-to-psychologists

3. Send an email or write a letter to the Federal Minister for Mental Health (see the link for some easy options to do that): http://psyber.net.au/index.php/media/57-articles/1623-tell-the-minister

4. Join the Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_209575192408227

Please help. People need these sessions!

[bumMum]

Ill sign. And write a letter. This will directly impact my family and I suspect will impact at least one person everyone knows

[Tam-I-Am]

Thanks for your support, BumMum!

[OurLittleBlessing]

I've signed the petition.

I don't think this move will save them any money. Quite the opposite actually.

[TripleTime]

Count me in, I'll sign anything you want me to.

How the **** is a tiny amount of 6, maybe 10 visits going to help me manage my health? It's not going. I'm better off going shopping & spending $200 at a go.

[Tam-I-Am]

I agree :)

Just so everyone knows, it only takes 2 seconds to sign up for GetUp! You can do it for just one single campaign, you can elect not to get emails from them in the future etc. Voting for our campaign (which is currently 12th) will mean that we get support from get up, who have a membership of over 500,000 people who are willing to support campaigns like this, could mean the difference between the changes going through, or the Australian people stopping them. Please, if you've got 2 minutes, consider joining up and voting for the GetUp! campaign, too.

Thanks everyone who's voted so far :)

[missie_mack]

I clicked on the facebook link and got


What should I do with my hair, peeps? I am struggling with having the same haircut as my 10yo son (who, granted, has an unusual haircut for a 10yo boy)... Thoughts?



:laughing: You might want to update the link.
I've signed the others ;)

[Tam-I-Am]

I clicked on the facebook link and got


:laughing: You might want to update the link.
I've signed the others ;)

Ahh, :eek: :laughing:

All fixed now :D

[MsMummy]

The mental health system is a bloody joke in Australia.

Will sign and forward onto my partner, who is a psychologist. he works in job network and can only get government funding for about 6 treatments per client, which he says isn't enough.

[OurLittleBlessing]

Good idea. I'll forward the link to my DH who works in an office of 700. Maybe we can get a few more signatures heheh.

[Tam-I-Am]

The mental health system is a bloody joke in Australia.

Will sign and forward onto my partner, who is a psychologist. he works in job network and can only get government funding for about 6 treatments per client, which he says isn't enough.

Thanks MsMummy. The Facebook page has a LOT of psychologists, other mental health workers (SWs and OTs) as well as concerned members of the public on it. He might find some support there for his stuff, too.

Also, ask him to pass it onto anyone at work/otherwise who might be interested, please! :)

[*Cj*]

It would be good to send a email or write a letter to the Federal Minister for Mental Health, plus the Shadow Minister for Mental Health, I would all so be sending a letter to the independents plus Tony abbott any one else you wish to send it too, Newspapers. ( It can help to get the opposition on side even if you don't like that party)

If you really want some thing done I would be sending emails and letters to more then one person. All so keep sending the same email and letter over and over till you get a reply.

[DailyDiversion]

Thanks for this information Tam. I will pass those links onto my mother who is also a psychologist.

[Tam-I-Am]

That's a good idea, CJ. There are some really helpful links on the Facebook page.

Thanks DD. I hope that she finds it all helpful. :)

[Love_Monkey_Heart]

This will directly affect my family so myself and DH have signed :)

[anewme]

Signed and sent.

[Cheerilee]

Signed and also shared on facebook. DP is also signing it.

Really annoyed that this was left "off the radar" so to speak.

I find it sad that the government does not see mental health as something to invest in.

I am also studying Psychology :)

[1+1=5]

this is very important. signed.

[elleandsam]

As I'm currently trying to work my way forward after DSs traumatic birth this directly effects me as I seek counselling, I'm going to try and get on an actual computer tomorrow to sign and send some emails.

[~Temet Nosce~]

I will sign the position tomorrow, on my phone at the moment. All I can say is, what a load of bollocks.

[Tam-I-Am]

Thank you to everyone who has signed the petition or is planning to in the next day or two.

I really want to emphasise the GetUp campaign - we will have access to SO MANY more people if we can get GetUp to push our campaing. Please, consider joining and voting on our campaign on GetUp - it literally only takes a minute or so to sign up, and you can opt out of receiving emails from them ever again in the future. If ALL you do is give us 3 votes for this campaign, that would be awesome. Please, if everyone on this site took just 1 minute out of their day, this campaign would be a runaway horse.

Thank you everyone xx

[Tatiana28]

Signed!

[Gothel]

Signed and bumping this thread, please keep bumping it up. I have used this service and it is so so important to everyday Australians.

[Myztiks#1Fan]

Subscribing so when i get home i can sign up etc. Will do so next week prolly on monday.

Sent from my GT-I9000T using Bubhub

[ComeBackKid]

oh my goodness.

I was so unaware of this... Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention.

I see my psychologist under these medicare sessions and it is a struggle to make it through with just the 18 sessions. There is no way i can pay for regular sessions with my psychologist. And she is the best psychologist i have ever come across and the only one has been able to provide me with appropriate treatment.

Prior to this, i was suicidal and my children were placed in foster care. I cannot believe this huge step backward in mental health care by the govt and their inability to see the far reaching consequences of this move - both on their patients and their families.

I am absolutely outraged.

[~Temet Nosce~]

Signed and shared on facebook.. I hope it actually does something to make the ignorant government listen.

[GrabbyCrabby]

Subscribing :). I get home tomorrow, will vote & share then

[Tam-I-Am]

Thanks everyone, let's keep the momentum going. We need more votes on the GetUp! Petition, so please, if you've got 2 minutes to spare, all you have to do is enter your email address and you can vote. Please help.

[Tam-I-Am]

Bump!

[share a book]

Disgusting isn't it. Have written a letter already too. I'm really disappointed in this government. I'm also worried about our future.

We have no options really. What it comes down to in the end is a choice of Labor or Liberal, and today's Labor Party is just a Liberal government by a different name. There is very little difference between them, and it will only get harder to tell the difference as time goes on.

I'm very concerned with the way our education and health care systems are going. We will all have to pay big money for these very basic services so those without money will be without them. Mental Health issues are one of the biggest killers in our country, yet it's one of the most misunderstood, and one of the first to go.

[Tam-I-Am]

Yeah, that greatly concerns me, too, SwimmingUpstream.

[zombiekitty]

Subscribing

[twotrunks]

I clicked on the facebook link and got


:laughing: You might want to update the link.
I've signed the others ;)

Same today!

[Tam-I-Am]

Do you mean that you got the same message when you clicked on the link today, twotrunks?

[twotrunks]

Yep same page as pp. Signed petition and voted though :)

The service i work for is absolutely inundated with counselling requests, once the medicare visits get cut back our waiting list will blowout completely :( it is bad news for psychologists as well As general counselors IMO

[Tam-I-Am]

Yep same page as pp. Signed petition and voted though :)

The service i work for is absolutely inundated with counselling requests, once the medicare visits get cut back our waiting list will blowout completely :( it is bad news for psychologists as well As general counselors IMO

Hmmm, that's really bizarre (about the Facebook page, not about your work, LOL). I've updated it again, can somebody try it now and let me know if it's going to the Better Access to psychologists group page now? :)

And I absolutely agree, it's bad for social workers, OTs, family workers, psych services, etc. Everybody who is in public or semi-public services is just going to be overrun now, and many MANY people (particularly in rural and regional areas) are going to go without adequate services :(

[twotrunks]

Facebook Worked this time, thanks :)

[MissPoss]

Argh. This makes me so angry. Why has this been kept so quiet? As soon as baby is off my arm I'll be on the laptop signing, joining and posting on Facebook. I can't believe they're cutting an already inadequate service.

[Tam-I-Am]

Argh. This makes me so angry. Why has this been kept so quiet? As soon as baby is off my arm I'll be on the laptop signing, joining and posting on Facebook. I can't believe they're cutting an already inadequate service.

I think most budgetary cuts are sort of slid in there, under the radar (or they attempt to keep them under the radar anyway), to stop the kind of movement that is gathering momentum by the day.

[MissPoss]

Thought about sending an email to someone like the 7pm
Project? They love anything political.

[aLittleLoopy]

Signed the petition and voted x 3 on GetUp.

I also sent the link to my cousin-in-law who works for a local paper and hope he'll do a story - I'll get him to include a link to the petition.

[heeeeerekittykitty]

Wow I had no idea :-( I'm on a mental health plan that assists me to see the most amazing psychologist who has changed my life . GAVE me my life back . She's the only psychologist to ever help me.

I struggle as it is to pay the difference . Mind you , my twelve sessions are also barely enough let alone down to six :-(

Thank you for this thread . This change will affect so many people . It's terrifying when you know you need help and financially just cannot afford to get it or struggle to even find the money for sessions that are sometimes the only thing that keeps you getting out of bed everyday and functioning .

Mental health funding is so so important .

[Tam-I-Am]

Thought about sending an email to someone like the 7pm
Project? They love anything political.

The group has been putting out a press release to the major newspapers across the country :)


Signed the petition and voted x 3 on GetUp.

I also sent the link to my cousin-in-law who works for a local paper and hope he'll do a story - I'll get him to include a link to the petition.

Thanks ALL :) That's awesome!

[aLittleLoopy]

:cheerleader2::cheerleader1:

My CIL is doing the story for the local paper! He has joined the fb group to get more info and now has an interview organised with a local service provider too :D

[Tam-I-Am]

:cheerleader2::cheerleader1:

My CIL is doing the story for the local paper! He has joined the fb group to get more info and now has an interview organised with a local service provider too :D

AWESOME! Thanks so much for passing it on to him :smiliedance: :cheerleader2: :cheerleader1: :cheerleader2: :smiliedance:

[Electric Boogaloo]

Thanks for these links Tam. I'm a psych but totally out of the loop because I'm not in private practice and I'm on maternity leave in any case. Have signed the petition and will pass them on to friends and colleagues.

[Atlantic Puffin]

Tam - Thanks for pointing this out... If it wasnt for BH I would never have known that they were planning to cut back to 6-10.....

This is an outrage. It effects my direct family, so I have signed, emailed, posted, and voted.

Just about to join the FB page.

[Atlantic Puffin]

I clicked on the facebook link and got


:laughing: You might want to update the link.
I've signed the others ;)


Tam - Whats the name of the group...? I clicked on your link and got the thing about the mum with the same hair as her 10yo kid....?!?!?

Haha. ;)

[Tam-I-Am]

Tam - Whats the name of the group...? I clicked on your link and got the thing about the mum with the same hair as her 10yo kid....?!?!?

Haha. ;)

Arrghhh! So frustrating! I have no idea what's going on with that, I've changed it 3 times now! Can you click it again and see what it says now?

The name, if that doesn't work, is 'Better Access' to Psychologists

[kas3]

I can't believe this is being proposed. So many people will be affected. I have been seeing a psyc this year and even with the rebate, I'm still $50 out of pocket per session. I wouldn't be able to afford the fee without the rebate. So much for prioriting mental health huh.