Healthcare chief executives Peter Gregg and Colin Goldschmidt, whose businesses have been stung by pathology funding cuts, have criticised the government's health policy and warned that Australia was taking its first step toward a two-tiered system of care.

Mr Gregg – the chief executive of Primary Health Care, which has 71 medical centres, 100 pathology labs, and 168 diagnostic imaging sites – said the shock proposal from the Turnbull government to cut bulk-billing incentive payments for providers was "a slap in the face" for medical professionals.