‘Killed the golden goose’: Medicare under pressure as Arkaba Medical Clinic ends bulk billing for children

As the federal government boasts about increased bulk billing rates following new investment, a major clinic has dumped bulk billing for children citing lack of federal support for Medicare.

A major Adelaide GP clinic has dumped bulk billing for children citing lack of support from the federal government and the impact of the state payroll tax which now applied to clinics with contractor GPs.

Arkaba Medical Clinic told patients its commitment to high quality care and exceptional services requires adjustments to their fee structure.

“With the increasing costs associated with providing exceptional health care and the limited investment from the Commonwealth Government to Medicare over the years, children can unfortunately no longer be bulk billed,” its patients have been told.

The adjustment comes as the federal government boasts about its commitment to Medicare, the Australian Medical Association launches its Modernise Medicare campaign, and health looms as a key federal election battleground.

Dr Chris Moy who has been with the Arkaba practice for 30 years warned general practice is being “driven to extinction” as costs rise and young doctors shy away from general practice.

GP Dr Chris Moy.

“We don’t bulk bill children now but of course individual circumstances will be taken into account especially of regular patients — finance should not be a barrier to obtaining care,” Dr Moy said.

“We’ve had to do it because of the overall squeeze on general practice, including the imposition of state payroll tax.

“Successive federal governments have killed the golden goose with a combination of rebate freezes then failure to index properly.”

Dr Moy said the Medicare rebate for a standard consultation “is less than it costs for a haircut” and if it had kept pace with CPI would see it more than double the present rate.

Medicare data released by the federal government shows an extra six million bulk billed GP visits between November 2023 and December 2024 following new incentives.

Nationally, 77.5 per cent of all GP visits were bulk billed in December 2024, an increase of 1.9 percentage points on October 2023, before the investment took effect — in SA it rose by 4.2 points to 74.9 per cent.

Medicare looms as a federal election issue.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said: “Thanks to our efforts to strengthen Medicare, we’ve got more doctors, more bulk billing and Urgent Care Clinics that have already seen over a million Australians, all fully bulk billed.

“Our investments are making a meaningful difference, but we know we need to do more to strengthen Medicare.”

However, the AMA’s Modernise Medicare campaign warns: “Years of Medicare rebate freezes and inadequate indexation have led to affordability issues for patients and put enormous pressure on general practice and its ability to meet the healthcare needs of the community.”