My patient Shirley would benefit from more bulk billing. Here’s why she won’t
Labor is shining an 8.5 billion watt spotlight on General Practice to divert attention from the elephant in the room that everyone in Australia has seen.
Shirley* is a patient of mine. She struggles with emphysema from a lifetime of smoking. Breathlessness drives her to alcohol, which provides only moments of relief before she calls the ambulance and heads to the emergency department.
Over six months she visited the emergency department more than 10 times. I asked her why she didn’t see her GP. It was because she couldn’t afford the $44 gap payment and the GP no longer bulk-billed.
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Nick Coatsworth was the Deputy Chief Medical Office of Australia during the pandemic.
