Access to primary healthcare could become out of reach for millions of Australians if rising gap fees in bulk-billing rebates aren’t addressed, experts warn.
Recent statistics revealed less than half of the clinics in Australia’s capital cities are still offering bulk-billed care, with the average cost of a 20-minute consult now around $41 as more and more GPs look to ditch the old model in favour of out-of-pocket billing.
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GPs around the country have long held concerns over the rising costs of patient care, with Medicare barely reimbursing enough to cover expenses. The amount Medicare refunds GPs for bulk-billed services has remained largely the same for the past decade.
This has forced many practices to scrap bulk billing altogether – impacting loyal patients who have seen the same doctor for years.
In late 2022 Federal Health Minister Mark Butler described the state of Australia’s primary care as “in its worst shape since Medicare began”.
Last year alone, bulk-billing rates across Australia plummeted by seven per cent. “What we’ve had for the last several years is very much a sugar-coating of what’s happening in primary care, and particularly in general practice,” he told The Australian.
Professor Karen Price, adjunct president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, agrees. She warns if changes to bulk billing aren’t made, it could have dire consequences for high-risk Australians.
“Bulk-billing rates are in freefall and without urgent action some patients will be left behind,” she explained.
The worst affected are pensioners and chronically ill patients, who rely on Medicare to pay for their regular, vital appointments. An increase in out-of-pocket expenses for simple consults could lead to a decline in patients seeking care.
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“This will have significant consequences for the health and wellbeing of many patients nationwide,” Karen says.
But help could be around the corner. Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans for an urgent Medicare shake-up to address the shock fall in bulk-billing services.
He vowed to “take pressure off” GPs in both metro and rural areas, including reducing the months’-long wait time for appointments and higher fees, and the Labor government implemented the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce to achieve this.
“What we know we need to do is fix primary health care,” the prime minister told Sunrise.
“The big thing we are looking at is how do you take pressure off the system, and we are doing that … talking with experts because we want to make sure that this Medicare Taskforce is listened to.”
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