Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs As the government continues its bid to make Medicare the centrepiece of its election campaign with the announcement of 50 new urgent care clinics, Health Minister Mark Butler is doing the media rounds this morning to promote the new policy.As we outlined a couple of posts ago, the urgent care clinics are considered a big vote winner. They’re relatively quick to roll out, free to access and give people with minor injuries and infections an option other than the dreaded ED visit. And of course, the locations slated for the new clinics include plenty of marginal electorates … (more on that in a minute).Butler told Nine’s Today that the clinics were responsible for a flat-lining of the presentation of non-urgent and semi-urgent patients at EDs, and even a decrease in those cases in areas where an urgent care clinic was present.“The doctors and nurses are able to concentrate on the more life-threatening emergencies, which is what hospitals are built for,” Butler said.LoadingUnlike Labor’s $8.5 billion bulk-billing expansion that the Coalition quickly adopted, the opposition has a different approach to the clinics.Anne Ruston, the opposition’s health spokesperson, has already committed to supporting existing clinics and establishing four more – in Sorell, Cairns, Maitland and Reid – while flagging further announcements will be made.But Butler said the Coalition had been “very unsupportive” of the initiative.“Of the 50 announced yesterday, they could only bring themselves to support four of them, which all happen to be in Liberal target seats,” Butler said.
