Bulk billing continues to rise on the back of doctor incentives
The GP bulk-billing rate continues to rise month-on-month since the introduction of incentives for doctors.
More than a million extra trips to the doctor have been bulk-billed since November last year with Australia’s bulk-billing rate rising 3.4 per cent to 79 per cent in May, according to seven months of Medicare billing data.
The increase is being realised across all states and territories, with GP clinics around the country making the shift back to bulk billing, federal Health Minister Mark Butler said.
Medicare payments for doctors in major cities who bulk bill for a standard consult had increased by 34 per cent, while rural and regional doctors had received an extra 50 per cent, Mr Butler said.
The GP bulk-billing rate measures the proportion of all GP visits under Medicare that involve no patient payment.
States that historically have had lower bulk-billing rates have had the largest increases, with an 8.1 per cent rise in Tasmania, and a 5.5 per cent increase in the ACT.
NSW has the highest bulk-billing rate and is the only state to achieve more than 80 per cent, while the ACT has the lowest at 57 per cent.
The bulk-billing rate in all other states and the Northern Territory is in the 70s.
Families with children under 16, pensioners and other concession cardholders are finding it easier to see a bulk-billing doctor, the government said.
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Together, these patients make up more than three out of five visits to a GP.
Mr Butler described the figures as a “win all round – for patients, doctors and the health system”.
“Doctors’ groups have called our tripling of the bulk billing incentive a ‘game changer’ – and clearly it is,” the minister said.
“The Albanese government committed to making it easier for people to see a bulk-billing doctor – and that is exactly what is happening right around the country, particularly in rural and regional Australia.”
