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The plan could offer a GP about $100 to see a patient over the Internet rather than the $34 rebate offered under Medicare for a face-to-face check-up. Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the government would use generous incentives to encourage doctors and specialists to use broadband with patients in order to meet forecasts for 495,000 online consultations over the next four years. Labor announced the idea yesterday in the biggest policy initiative of its official election campaign launch, building on some of its existing health policies as well as its plan to build a national broadband network to enable online services. The plan includes $250.5-million to be paid in Medicare rebates for the 495,000 online consultations, a separate $56.8-million will fund incentives for GPs and another $50-million for a government call centre that would employ doctors to take phone calls and videoconferencing calls from patients. While the videoconferencing would be possible with existing broadband networks, it would work much better on the NBN.

Excerpt from: The Australian Financial Review (http://www.afr.com), 17 August 2010