How to find a cheaper GP in your postcode that still bulk bills
Aussie families are now facing bills of over $100 to see their GP as Medicare rebates fail to keep pace with inflation. See list of where to see an affordable GP.
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Exclusive: The cost of going to the doctor has exploded, with many GP’s now charging more than $100 for a standard 20-minute consultation.
Even more eye-watering is the price of longer sessions at more than $200 at some practices across Australia, a new survey has found.
In one of the most damning reflections of Australia’s cost of living crisis, healthcare directory Cleanbill found the rates of all capital city GP clinics had jumped exponentially — leaving patients massively out of pocket after the $39.75 Medicare rebate.
On the flip side, Cleanbill did identify multiple postcodes across Australia where you can still find a bulk billing doctor.
But the prohibitive charges are the latest sign that Medicare is on the verge of collapse, with Health Minister Mark Butler this week admitting “Medicare is in I think the worst shape it’s been in 40 years”.
Bulk billing rates are plummeting and the Medicare rebate now covers less than a third of the cost of seeing some higher charging GPs, but the minister is resisting calls to raise it.
“Our government is not simply going to be adding more money to the existing system,” he said this week.
Cleanbill has found more than 100 GP clinics in capital cities were charging patients an average of more than $90 for a standard consult — similar to the Australian Medical Association (AMA) recommended consultation fee, which is adjusted in line with inflation annually.
Tasmania’s popular tourist region of Acacia Hills, which includes Cradle Mountain, was the nation’s most expensive postcode to see a doctor, slugging patients on average $135 for a regular visit — more than three times the Medicare rebate.
A handful of GP clinics in Melbourne and Sydney were also charging patients more than $100 a visit, including Woollahra, Double Bay, Gladesville in Sydney, Elwood, Moorabbin, Brighton and Port Melbourne.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) president Dr Nicole Higgins said Medicare rebates had been frozen for six years and not kept pace with inflation for more than a decade.
“Like everybody else we’re under the same pressures of cost of living with increased staff costs, increased electricity, rents, and those costs are being passed on to the patient,” she said.
And more doctors are expected to abandon bulk billing and introduce charges as states move to impose a new payroll tax on GP practices.
This could see patients pay an extra $10 to $15 to see their GP.
To help you find affordable care we’ve produced a searchable table using Cleanbill’s survey information which reveals the postcodes where you can still find a bulk billing doctor.
In Sydney, the postcodes where 100 per cent of patients get bulk billed include Bankstown (postcode 2200), Fairfield (postcode 2165) and Auburn (postcode 2144).
In Melbourne the postcodes where 100 per cent of patients get bulk billed include Broadmeadows (postcode 3047), Keysborough (postcode 3173) and Hampton Park (postcode 3976).
In Brisbane, the postcodes where 100 per cent of patients get bulk billed include Laidley near Toowoomba (postcode 4341), Acacia Ridge (postcode 4110) and Bethania (postcode 4205).
In Adelaide, postcodes where 100 per cent of patients get bulk billed include Daw Park (postcode 5041), Munno Para (postcode 5115) and Regency Park (postcode 5010).
Cleanbill founder James Gillespie said the survey found only 43 per cent of capital city GP clinics still offer bulk billing.
“But patients require a service that shows them where these GP clinics are. And, without Cleanbill, no such service exists,” he said.
Teacher Benessa Durham said she usually gets bulk billed when she sees a doctor and wouldn’t pay $100 for health care.
“I think $100 is too much.If it came down to that I’d be going somewhere far cheaper than that,” she told News Corp.
The 50-year-old said for families with children a $100 per visit charge would be too expensive.
“I wouldn’t pay that kind of money” she said.
Within weeks Mr Butler will launch a three-year, $750 million revamp of Medicare funding that is likely to see Medicare pay for nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists to provide wraparound care for patients with chronic illnesses.
The RACGP warns doctors must be in charge of leading this care, wants bulk billing incentives tripled and a 20 per cent increase in Medicare rebates for longer consultations.
Former AMA NSW president Dr Danielle McMullen, who served on the Medicare reform taskforce, said: “There’s no way you can fix general practice for $250 million a year”.
The government would have to find more funds in the May budget, she said.
Consumers Health Forum CEO Elizabeth Deveny said the organisation’s recent member survey “showed, improving access to GPs and reducing costs is the number one issue for Australian health consumers.”
“We can see value in extending the role of nurses, pharmacists and other primary health professionals, but there must be a central point of co-ordination otherwise our health system will become even harder to navigate,” she said.
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Originally published as How to find a cheaper GP in your postcode that still bulk bills
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