Election 2022: Bulk billing axed, increasing rates to see GPs who want Medicare rebate increased

Struggling GPs are urging both major parties to increase the Medicare rebate as they ditch bulk billing. See the full list of what you’ll pay in your electorate and how it compares.

General practitioner practices around the country are abandoning bulk billing, claiming it is sending them broke – with tradies charging more for a 15 minute consult than a GP gets paid under Medicare.

It has put the paltry $39.10 Medicare rebate for a GP visit front and centre of the election campaign where neither side of politics is offering money for desperately needed reform of general practice.

Poor pay means just 15 per cent of medical graduates now want to practice as GPs, down from 50 per cent in the past, according to Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Dr Karen Price.

Doctors working as registrars in hospitals take a $60,000 a year pay cut to instead work in general practice while electricians and plumbers charge more – $45-$50 for 15 minutes work – than a GP earns.

The pressure on GP’s began when the Gillard Labor Government imposed a one-year freeze on Medicare rebates in 2013. The Coalition then extended the freeze for another four years to save $2.8 billion.

One GP clinic in Sydney’s inner city told its patients that, as of this week, it would no longer offer bulk billing, leaving even age pensioners $20 out of pocket to see a doctor.

From Monday, Redfern Station Medical Centre began charging patients $86.10 for a standard consult leaving them $47 out of pocket after they claimed a rebate from Medicare.

Redfern Station Medical Centre told its patients it would no longer bulk bill them. Picture: Supplied

Practice manager Stephen Diep said young doctors were refusing to work at bulk billing practices because the pay was so low they couldn’t pay off their $100,000 HECS debt.

In addition the NSW state government had recently applied payroll tax to GP clinics and the business was grappling with a massive retrospective tax bill.

“Rents are going up, IT, wages – everything is going up except for Medicare,” Mr Diep said.

Dr Marie Healey who has worked in the area for more than 20 years said the practice would likely bulk bill some of the practice’s homeless and destitute patients.

Dr Bruce Willett at his Victoria Point Surgery. Picture: Tara Croser.

Dr Bruce Willett, from Victoria Point surgery in Brisbane, said his practice began phasing out bulk billing for around one in three patients a couple of years ago as practice costs rose while the Medicare rebate did not.

“During Covid we’ve been up for the cost of RAT testing and also PPE. So that’s an additional strain on the practice,” Dr Willett said.

Dr Cameron Loy, of You Yangs medical clinic in Lara, Victoria, said while his practice was not completely eliminating bulk billing, “we are working towards reducing the amount of bulk”.

“We’re having to have the conversation with a lot of our patients and say we can’t continue to bulk bill, does a $15, $20, $30 co-payment, is that okay,” Dr Loy said.

Wagga GP Dr Ayman Shenouda said his three medical practices were also gradually introducing private billing for patients.

“For a long time GP’s have been sympathetic with their patients trying to help out their patients. Now it’s becoming very hard to run a business and earn money,” he said.

Lara GP Cameron Loy is reducing bulk billing for some patients. Picture: Mike Dugdale

The government claims to have the highest GP billing rates in history at 88.7 per cent but the Royal Australian College of GP’s said this was the number of services, not the number of patients bulk billed (just two thirds of patients are bulk billed).

The figure has been inflated because GP’s by law have to bulk bill Covid jabs and initially had to bulk bill telehealth consults during Covid.

The Australian Medical Association recommends doctors charge $86 for a standard GP consult – the Medicare rebate is less than half that amount

Government data shows the average charge faced by non-bulk billed GP patients has risen 30 per cent since 2013-14 from $31.03 to $41.12.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Minister Greg Hunt said Medicare rebates “are already indexed annually and will continue to be”.

“Bulk billing rates are 6.6 per cent higher under the Coalition than under Labor,” he said.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said under the Liberal government of Scott Morrison “it’s never been harder or more expensive to see a GP”.

“By freezing the Medicare rebate for six long years, Scott Morrison ripped billions of dollars from general practice, causing gap fees to skyrocket,” he said.

“We’ve already announced our Medicare urgent care clinics which will make it easier and cheaper to see a doctor when your family needs it,” he said.

Originally published as Election 2022: Bulk billing axed, increasing rates to see GPs who want Medicare rebate increased