Labor’s plan to expand bulk billing if re-elected in Federal Election

Promising 181,600 more free visits to the GP if re-elected, Townsville’s Labor candidate says people in the city will be ‘better off’ thanks to the Albanese Government’s investments in Medicare.

Labor candidate for Herbert Edwina Andrew. Picture: Supplied.

Promising 181,600 more free visits to the GP if re-elected, Townsville’s Labor candidate has said people in the city would be ‘better off’ thanks to the Albanese Government’s investments in Medicare.

If re-elected Labor will expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians from November 1, creating a new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient with an additional 12.5 per cent loading payment on their Medicare rebates.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos FEBRUARY 26, 2025: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hold up a Medicare Card during a press conference at the Urgent Care Clinic at the Goonawarra Medical Centre in Sunbury. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The Albanese Government says the $8.5bn investment is the ‘single largest investment’ in Medicare since it started more than 40 years ago and will deliver 18 million additional bulk billed GP visits nationally.

Labor candidate for Herbert Edwina Andrew said Townsville was doing it tough and having to prioritise what money was spent on.

“This investment will ensure that people in Townsville no longer have to put off seeing a doctor because money is tight and appointments are too expensive,” she said.

“More bulk billing doctors means better health outcomes for everyone.”

Labor says this would mean 9 out of ten visits will be bulk billed by 2030 and boost the number of fully bulk billed practices to around 4800 nationally.

GP practices in Townsville will get more support to bulk bill, with Labor saying around 45 practices in the electorates of Dawson and Herbert in a better financial position if they take on the incentives.

Senator Nita Green at The Strand in Townsville. Picture: Nikita McGuire

According to modelling by the Department of Health and Aged Care, the 4,800 practices will receive an average of $344,000 in additional Medicare payments a year.

Senator for Queensland Nita Green said Labor built Medicare and will ‘protect it and improve it for all Australians’.

“There will be more free GP visits with more bulk billing in Townsville because of our historic investment in Medicare,” she said.

“45 GP practices in Townsville will get support to go fully bulk billing, getting more in Medicare payments than they lose in charging patients out-of-pockets.

“We want every Australian to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the healthcare they need.”

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said there was a reasons Australia’s doctors voted Peter Dutton ‘the worst Health Minister in Medicare history’.

“Peter Dutton’s record on Medicare isn’t just scary, it’s bloody terrifying. Why would you trust the person who created this mess in the first place to clean it up?”

Originally published as Labor’s plan to expand bulk billing if re-elected in Federal Election