The ACT government's new $250 health 'tax' a hard sell to Canberrans stuck on surgery wait lists
"You wake up from breathlessness and go totally blank. Luckily, your body will tell you to wake up. But you can also have a stroke from lack of oxygen," Mr Ahmed explained.
"My wife is worried about me. She used to stay awake at night to see if I was breathing.
"I can't get enough oxygen in my sleep."
The Canberran is on an elective surgery waiting list with Canberra Health Services (CHS) for procedures to be done to his nose, sinuses and throat.
The system classed his surgery as Category 3, meaning there was a clinical need for it to occur within 365 days.
But, Mr Ahmed has waited 922 days and no surgery is scheduled.
In correspondence seen by the ABC, he emailed Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith in April last year, explaining his diagnosis and including a plea:
The minister's office responded to him on the same day, saying it had asked CHS to follow up with Mr Ahmed directly. But, he said that follow up never occurred.
As a ratepayer in the ACT, Mr Ahmed said he was "gobsmacked" when he learned yesterday's budget included a $250 health care levy.
And he was far from alone, with many members of the ABC Canberra audience sharing their frustration over the levy and stories of being stuck on blown-out surgical waiting lists.
One talkback caller, Marcie, said she had been waiting for eight months to access a procedure "to rule out cancer".
"I was told there was no prospect, zero prospect, of getting it done this year," she said.
She said she was forced to travel to Sydney to see a specialist who was trying to get her into the New South Wales public health system.
"I'm not after something for nothing. I am happy to pay for healthcare if I am actually getting healthcare," Marcie said.
Another person commented: 'I've been on a waiting list for eight months. Last week I was told there was no prospect of having the procedure done this year. And we're being slugged a $250 levy for what exactly?"
Conrad Farrell shared with the ABC how his "fantastic" surgery for a degenerative spinal condition brought relief, but only after an agonising wait.
"Every day felt like a week, so while I was waiting, it was excruciating," Mr Farrell said.
"I was heavily reliant on a walking stick. I couldn't walk from the couch to the toilet without a walking stick."
Mr Farrell is urging the government to make use of the levy to ensure no one else suffers a similar painful wait for help.
The territory's budget deficit is $1.1 billion for 2024-2025, with ratepayers told the new tax would help cover expected increased costs for delivering health services.
Ms Stephen-Smith conceded the government's new levy and other price hikes were unpleasant.
"It is a tough budget. We had to make some really challenging decisions," she said.
During an interview on ABC Radio Canberra, Ms Stephen-Smith heard stories of Canberrans who, like Mr Ahmed and Marcie, were stuck on blown-out surgical waiting lists.
She encouraged people with a grievance about the health system to contact her office.
The minister acknowledged that for some, the new $250 health levy would heap extra pressure onto already tight household budgets, but said across the ACT, the tax was appropriate.
"We have the lowest unemployment rate in the country. We have the highest average incomes in the country. Interest rates are coming down. Inflation has come down really dramatically and most people who are earning an income have received tax cuts in the last couple of years," she said.
"So, we're asking people for five or six dollars a week to contribute to budget repair … to provide the services that we all use and value.
"And when we talk to Canberrans about what they value and what they need, health is right at the top of that list."
But Canberra Liberals Leader Leanne Castley said the new health levy would not have been needed if the government had budgeted properly.
"They do have a spending problem and the way that they're getting themselves out of that this time is to hike up the taxes on Canberrans," she said.
"It's a health system that is in crisis and the services aren't improving.
In selling yesterday's budget, Treasurer Chris Steel suggested the Commonwealth government was partly to blame for the territory's need to introduce the $250 levy.
Mr Steel complained the federal contribution to the ACT's health spend was expected to fall to 33 per cent next financial year, despite saying there had been an agreed target of 45 per cent by 2035.
But Federal Health Minister Mark Butler did not share Mr Steel's view.
"I'm not sure there's ever been a bigger increase in Commonwealth funding to the ACT hospital system than the one we will deliver next week," Mr Butler said.
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