Health Minister Nicola Roxon tried to congratulate the association, saying its timely warning to the Government in March of the danger of alcopops was reflected in the budget's move to increase taxes on the ready-mixed drinks.

Raising the tax on alcopops is expected to net the Government an extra $3 billion. The Opposition says the tax is more about keeping the budget surplus healthy than curbing binge drinking.

Ms Roxon told the conference, ''We know that health professionals across the country support the initiatives that we've taken in trying to tackle alcohol''.

But the comments drew a retort from association president Rosanna Capolingua who said the price rise in alcopops needed to be part of a wider strategy. ''You can't just use a price signal and not educate and teach and get people to understand what is unsafe drinking behaviour,'' she said.

''The kids are switching from alcopops to buying bags of 'goon' [wine], bottles of vodka and cheap bourbon.''

The doctors also told Ms Roxon they were not satisfied with her Government's approach to the Medicare surcharge levy and issues bearing on patient care.

Under the changes to the Medicare threshold, singles without private cover will avoid paying the Medicare surcharge if they earn less than $100,000, up from $50,000. The threshold for couples rises from $100,000 to $150,000.

The association predicted between 600,000 and one million people would dump their private cover and join public hospital waiting lists, while the federal Treasury estimated 485,000 taxpayers would drop their private health insurance policies because of the changes.

Ms Roxon said 8 per cent of singles exceeded the threshold when the surcharge was introduced and when these changes took place in July, 8.5 per cent would exceed the threshold.

Without the changes, 45 per cent of taxpayers would be caught by an unfair tax originally meant to target high-income earners, she said.

But Dr Capolingua said vulnerable people would be hurt as a result. AAP