State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh believes Rochester and Elmore District Health Service has been dealt a “severe financial blow” due to rising WorkCover premiums.
According to a recent analysis of health services annual reports, Rochester’s premiums have soared a staggering 64 per cent, from $137,000 in 2022-23 to $225,000 in 2023-24.
Across the state, Victorians have paid more that $252 million in WorkCover premiums in 2023-2024.
Mr Walsh said the WorkCover premiums were an added burden on top of an already struggling health system.
“That’s an $85 million — or a 51.4 per cent increase — more than the previous 12 months and comes at a time when hospitals are already under siege, when we don’t have enough doctors, we have too much ramping, we have too many waiting lists and we have no money to help resolve these problems, and we definitely don’t have any direction or signs things are going to improve,” he said.
“This increase comes after the whopping 42 per cent average hike in WorkCover premiums across the board in 2022-23, following admission from the Allan Labor Government that under its watch Victoria’s workers compensation scheme is ‘fundamentally broken’.”
According to Mr Walsh, hospitals across his electorate have been hit hard, with some such as Echuca having to find more than $400,000 to cover the rising rates during already tough times.
In some regional centres premiums have more than doubled in 12 months, and with REDHS on the verge of reopening after the 2022 floods.
“This is the last thing it needed, more bad news,” Mr Walsh said.