Anthony Albanese announces $8 billion free GP visits to Aussies
Australians will save massively on GP visits under a dramatic new offering made by the prime minister.
Federal Election
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Free GP visits will be offered to the vast majority of Australians in a dramatic $8 billion investment in Medicare that the Prime Minister hopes is big enough to save his job and save families hundreds of dollars a year.
Declaring the 2025 election a referendum on Medicare, Anthony Albanese will pledge on Sunday to deliver an additional 18 million free bulk billing GP visits.
The government will set an ambitious target of 9 out 10 GP visits being bulk billed – that means free for the patient – by 2030.
The Prime Minister opened fire on Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s record as health minister a decade ago predicting that Australian patients and families will save hundreds of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs, with patient savings of $859 million a year by 2030.
Mr Albanese pledged that “we will continue to ensure that patients and families don’t need to worry about reaching for their credit card when they’re getting the help they need”, describing the plan as a “historic investment in Medicare”.
What is bulk billing?
As more and more GPs charge a gap fee when you go to the doctors, some Australians don’t even know what bulk billing means anymore.
Bulk billing is when you don’t have to pay for your medical service from a health professional.
It means that the GP bills the government or Medicare instead. The GP then accepts the Medicare benefit as full payment for the service.
It’s when the GP argues that the Medicare benefit or fee from the government doesn’t cover all of their costs that they charge a gap fee. For example, if you have a standard consult at a GP that charges $92.85 cut the current Medicare rebate is only $42.85.
That means you face a $50 out of pocket fee. The idea with bulk billing is if the government increases the Medicare rebate to doctors you get the consultation for “free” with no out of pocket costs.
What the PM will announce on Medicare
The Prime Minister said the huge news of today’s announcement is the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation more than 40 years ago.
In an Australian first, a re-elected Albanese Government will pledge to support thousands of general practices to bulk bill every patient, with a new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program and will triple the bulk billing incentive for every Australian.
Under the plan, Labor will expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians from November 1 and a new Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program will support practices that bulk bill all their patients.
GP surgeries that bulk bill all their patients will receive an additional 12.5% loading payment on their Medicare rebates.
“Labor built Medicare, we will protect it and improve it for all Australians,’’ Mr Albanese said.
“I want every Australian to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the healthcare they need.
“No Australian should have to check their bank balance to see if they can afford to see a doctor. That is not who we are. That is not the future we want for Australia.
“This is a policy that lifts up our entire nation and ensures no one is held back, and no one is left behind.”
Labor will also deliver more doctors and nurses into Medicare, with 400 nursing scholarships and the largest GP training program in Australian history, funding the training of 2,000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.
“It will make Medicare even stronger, help with cost of living pressures and ensure every Australian receives the best health care that they deserve,’’ Mr Albanese said.
“It will be open to every kind of practice, everywhere: from solo GPs in the smallest towns to the largest city clinic.
“It will mean an additional 18 million bulk billed GP visits each year and will see families save up to $859 million a year in out-of-pocket costs by 2030. This means 9 out of 10 GP visits will be bulk billed by 2030.”
The other big target: Peter Dutton
But the political target of the Prime Minister’s big plan is unmistakably Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
The Liberal leader famously tried to introduce a $7 co-payment during his time as health minister a decade ago during the Abbott Government, an idea that nearly blew up the government.
Accusing Liberal leader Mr Dutton of trying to end bulk billing with a GP tax, before starting a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates, the Prime Minister warned that the Liberals will cut Medicare again, if elected.
Way back in 2014 when Peter Dutton floated his GP co-payment plan it degenerated into a rolling crisis that led to ugly leaks in cabinet and ultimately weakened Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership before he was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership coup.
GP tax war led to claims Joe Hockey was going “off his t*ts”
The GP co-payment idea was championed by some as a sensible idea but in the end caused big divisions inside cabinet because Joe Hockey wanted to keep it to improve the budget bottom line and Tony Abbott was determined to dump it.
At one stage, Mr Abbott’s supporters hit back at the Treasurer accusing him of being lazy and “bellowing’’ over the GP mess.
One senior Liberal then claimed Mr Hockey “went off his t**s’’ about the Prime Minister’s office briefing journalists that the policy was to be dumped.
In an extraordinary personal attack, another claimed Mr Hockey was a sook.
Around the same time, Mr Dutton was extremely careful in his comments that denied the policy had been shelved.
He did not rule out changing or indeed abandoning the policy in the future and said he was “pragmatic’’ about the Senate.
“I’m saying there are options available to the Government,” he said in 2014.
“Medicare is dead if we can’t make it sustainable,” he said.
“The Labor Party will kill Medicare by offering everything to everybody for free and the Government is determined to make Medicare sustainable and strong not just for today, these are plans which will set up Medicare for the next decade or two.”
Peter Dutton’s the “worst health minister in Australian history”
In a statement, Health Minister Mark Butler said Labor’s record investment restores the $8.3 billion the Australian Medical Association says was cut from Medicare through the funding freeze initiated by Peter Dutton a decade ago.
For the first time, Labor will expand bulk billing incentives to all Australians and create an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient.
Mr Butler said this will mean 9 out of 10 GP visits will be bulk billed by 2030, boosting the number of fully bulk billed practices to around 4,800 nationally – triple the current number.
“No more wondering if you need to reach for your Medicare card or your credit card: Labor will put back into Medicare every dollar that Peter Dutton’s rebate freeze took out.
Mediscare: the Labor Party’s golden charm
The term “Mediscare” has its origins in the 2016 election when Labor ran a highly successful campaign alleging the Coalition would privatise Medicare if elected.
Despite losing the election, the scare campaign was highly effective
in slashing the Coalition’s majority to a wafer-thin margin.
In 2019, Labor under Bill Shorten tried it again with less success.
“This election is a referendum on the future of Medicare,” Mr Shorten declared at Labor’s official campaign launch.
Labor has been ramping up the scare campaign over Peter Dutton’s plans for Medicare in recent weeks.
Recently, Labor has been accused of reigniting its “Mediscare” campaign ahead of the federal election with a misleadingly edited attack ad.
In the edited video, Mr Dutton says Medicare is dead – which he did say in relation to the $7 co-payment unless reforms were implemented but the quote is cut short in a misleading manner.
“We’ve said and we’re very clear about this: Medicare is dead,” Mr Dutton says in the video.
“They can’t be for free. We have to pay for a world-class medical system.”
In his full quote, he explains the need for reforms to avoid the death of Medicare calling on the crossbench to support his reforms.
“We’re very clear about this. Medicare is dead if we can’t make it sustainable today,’’ he said.
“The Labor Party will kill Medicare by offering everything to everybody for free and the government is determined to make Medicare sustainable [and] strong, not just for today, these are plans that will set up Medicare for the next decade or two. So, the Labor Party can pretend to the Australian public that things are for free, they can’t be for free, we have to pay for a world-class medical system.”
Originally published as Anthony Albanese announces $8 billion free GP visits to Aussies
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