Medicare statistics show bulk billing is falling

BULK billing has begun to decline creating concern the Federal Government’s freeze on Medicare rebates is starting to impact on free visits to the doctor.

GP visits bulk billed fell from 85.9 per cent in the three months to July to 85.4 per cent in the three months to September. Pictue: Brendon Thorne.

BULK billing has begun to decline creating concern the Federal Government’s freeze on Medicare rebates is starting to impact on free visits to the doctor.

The latest quarterly Medicare statistics show the proportion of GP visits bulk billed fell from 85.9 per cent in the three months to July to 85.4 per cent in the three months to September.

News Corp Australia has reported on a number of doctors’ practices around the country who have given their patients notice they will cease bulk billing after the government froze Medicare rebates at the 2014 level of $37 for six years.

The government’s rebate freeze and its plan to privatise Medicare’s payments system were a central part of Labor’s Mediscare campaign that almost cost Malcolm Turnbull this year’s election.

The government has since ditched the privatisation plan but has refused to budge on the Medicare freeze.

While bulk billing remains at record levels the latest statistics could be the first sign doctors are reacting to the election result and the continuing freeze by changing their billing practices.

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Minister for Health Sussan Ley. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Health Minister Sussan Ley said despite the fluctuation in the quarterly statistics GP bulk billing rates grew nearly 1 percentage point on the same time last year to 85.4 per cent, up from 84.6 per cent in the September 2015 quarter.

This coincided with an extra half-a-million Medicare-funded GP services for the September quarter, taking total Medicare GP investment to $1.9 billion for the period, she said.

“No matter how Labor tries to spin it, today’s figure show once again show that Medicare investment and bulk billing rates continue to remain higher under the Coalition than under Labor.”

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King, pictured with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, says Malcolm Turnbull lied when he ‘promised that no Australian would pay more to visit the doctor’. Picture: Nicole Garmston

The Australian Medical Association has recommended doctors raise their fees for a standard 20 minute visit to $78 from November 1.

This means patients whose doctors don’t bulk bill will face an out of pocket expense of $41 with the Medicare rebate covering less than half their fee.

“This is the evidence Malcolm Turnbull didn’t want revealed – bulk billing is dropping and he knows it, “ Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said.

“Australians are already seeing the impact of his six-year Medicare freeze every time they go to the doctor with more and more patients having to pay out of their own pocket.

“On the day before the election Malcolm Turnbull promised that no Australian would pay more to visit the doctor – this was a complete and utter lie.

“The Government needs to pull their head out of the sand and admit that their health policies are hurting Australians.”

The president of the Royal Australian College of GPs Dr Bastian Seidel noted the decline in the quarterly bulk billing statistics but said more data would be needed to see if the drop off was a trend.

“Most GPs started looking at their business models after the election and this won’t be reflected in this quarter’s data,” he said.

“The only trend you can see is an increase in out of pocket payments,” he said.

While many GPs were continuing to bulk bill patients they were introducing new quarterly or yearly charges that were adding to the out of pocket expenses of patients,” he said.

“Some GPs are charging for the first consultation then bulk billing the rest,” he said.

In Canberra some general practitioners were were running a co-op model where patients had to pay an annual membership fee but were bulk billed when they saw the GP, he said.