Cost of living crisis: Premier’s bulk-billed medical election promise revealed

The Courier-Mail can exclusively reveal Premier Steven Miles will today pledge $365m to open bulk-billing GP clinics to help struggling Queenslanders. SEE THE DETAILS

Premier Steven Miles. Pic: Adam Head

Queensland would pick up the Commonwealth’s tab and open 50 bulk-billing GP clinics in an unprecedented election pledge aimed at easing cost of living and pressure on the state’s health system.

The Courier-Mail can reveal Premier Steven Miles will today pledge $365m to open 50 bulk-billing GP clinics as part of a wider effort to take pressure off hospitals and lower healthcare costs for residents.

If Labor wins the October poll Queensland would pay for the clinics, which are usually a Commonwealth responsibility.

It is in response to the fewer number of GPs offering bulk billing services, forcing cash-strapped Queenslanders to visit public hospitals.

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It’s understood the state would absorb the cost of setting up the clinics, with GPs able to occupy the space rent free as long as they bulk billed patients.

Locations would be chosen based on current bulk billing data and in consultation with stakeholder groups including the Australian Medical Association Queensland, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland.

Mr Miles said the chosen locations would ensure the new clinics “do not impact the viability of existing bulk billing clinics”.

Premier Steven Miles visiting a hospital patient, Hilary Ikstrums. Pic: Adam Head

It comes in addition to Labor’s pledge to double the number of satellite hospitals for minor injuries and illness, which the government says has taken pressure off emergency departments.

The premier has also committed to establishing government-owned service stations and a second energy retailer to challenge its existing Ergon in regional Queensland.

The premier described the erosion of Medicare as the single biggest public policy regression of his lifetime.

“The real problem with our health system is access to primary care, that’s why our hospitals are overwhelmed,” he said.

“Everything else in our health plan is working, but we need to fix primary care.

“It’s a major cost of living issue. People are choosing between going to the doctor and paying the rent.

“It has to stop. I want Queenslanders to be able to access a bulk billing doctor.”

Each GP clinic is tipped to support between 10 and 15 bulk billing GPs, equating to access to between 250 and 750 more GPs across Queensland.

Mr Miles pinned the erosion of bulk billing on “a decade of neglect by the former federal LNP government”.

Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman visit Mater Private Hospital Redlands. Pic: Adam Head

However, the announcement indicates the state and two-and-a-half-year-old federal Labor government remain at loggerheads over easing pressure on state hospitals.

The federal government has opened 11 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across Queensland for patients who need care for an illness or injury that can be managed without a trip to the hospital, but can’t wait for a regular GP appointment.

Mr Miles said his bulk billing clinics would complement investment in the state’s $4.3bn health system.

“These 50 clinics will mean more Queenslanders will have a bulk billing clinic, no matter where they live,” he said.

“I will continue to do what matters to Queenslanders by pulling every lever to drive down cost-of-living pressures, and deliver better health care, closer to home.”

Originally published as Cost of living crisis: Premier’s bulk-billed medical election promise revealed