âAction is needed nowâ on Medicare rebate, says Buttrose Ita Buttrose has said we cannot accept an Australia where we have a gold standard treatment to stop people from going blind â but some canât access it. Opinion by Ita Buttrose AC OBE 5th May 2021 1:56 PM Premium Content OPINION The wider topic of an ageing Australia has been on the national agenda for some time. It is mistakenly assumed that it's not worth investing in older Australians, as they have passed their use-by date and there is nothing anyone can do about their decline. Many issues deserve attention, but as Patron of Macular Disease Foundation Australia (MDFA), I wish to highlight an immediate concern: a proposal before the federal government to cut the Medicare rebate for sight-saving eye injections (IVI) by 69 per cent.