Decentralise Medicare and open access to allied health.
“I was tame, I was gentle till the circus life made me mean…”
The Digital Medicare Wallet isn’t a hypothetical.
It’s a functional, immediately viable next step.
It doesn’t require a revolution — just a reallocation.
It builds on what already exists, reflects how people behave, and empowers the clinicians already doing the work.
But more than that, it signals a philosophical shift.
Away from credentialism. Away from hierarchy. Away from dualism.
Toward capability, collaboration, and systems that serve people, not professions.
Decentralise Medicare and End the Bureaucracy
The future of care isn’t about more bureaucracy.
It’s about better trust.
• Trusting patients to know what they need first.
• Trusting clinicians to deliver care at the top of their scope.
• Trusting teams to collaborate without coercion.
It’s a system where:
• Access is based on clinical maturity, not legacy power.
• Oversight is AI-informed, not admin-choked.
• Safety comes from structure and accountability, not hierarchy.
• Funding follows value delivered, not titles held.
We don’t need to roll this out nationwide overnight.
We can test, adapt, and scale it intelligently:
- Pilot clinics with integrated allied health teams, digital infrastructure, and outcome tracking.
- Community-led trials in underserved regions.
- Phased expansion with embedded AI screening tools.
- National deployment tied to MBS reform and workforce strategy.
Outcomes We Can Expect
• Reduced ED and ambulance use for non-emergent issues
• Earlier intervention in musculoskeletal and mental health
• Higher patient satisfaction and agency
• Less workforce burnout from misaligned roles
• Massive administrative savings across GP and Medicare
The Digital Medicare Wallet asks us to stop treating healthcare as a sequence of permissions.
It invites us to design for intelligence, not inertia.
It doesn’t abandon GPs — it frees them to do the work that matters most.
It doesn’t elevate allied health as rebellion — it recognises what they’re already doing.
It doesn’t give patients unchecked power — it gives them structured agency.
This is the model for a post-dualist, post-credentialist health economy.
A system where people are trusted, supported, and allowed to heal without begging.
It’s not a threat.
It’s an evolution.
Who’s afraid of little old me?
PS. This is a link to an Adele Ferguson 7:30 special which aired in 2022 around Medicare billing - it's a worthwhile reminder of where money goes, fraud, rorting and waste tend to follow.
BACKGROUND
Recently the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP) took a big swipe at allied health professionals.
Arguing that allied health professionals should be operating inside their businesses OR effectively under the supervision of a GP.
This was a flailing fist from an ageing giant, one who knows that the sun is going down on the idea of the General Practitioner being the go-to for every form of healthcare.
The reality is that General Practice ideology – GP at the centre of care, sits in conflict with modern consumerism – Patients at the centre of care.
Private citizens have moved far beyond these narratives decades ago, and if we are asking to go back to the 1980’s, that’s just not going to happen.
But instead of looking backwards, why not look forward at what could easily be achieved by 2030, if we took a genuine reformist approach to Medicare.
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