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Millions of Australians will receive better access to free GP visits under a $3.5 billion budget measure that will triple the financial reward for doctors who don’t charge their most vulnerable patients any out-of-pocket costs.
The change will apply to about 11.6 million children, concession cardholders and pensioners, whose GPs will receive a $20.65 bonus if they work in the city and $39.65 bonus in the country’s most rural areas if they bulk-bill.
A $3.5 billion budget measure will triple the financial reward for doctors who bulk-bill.Credit: Tamara Voninski
The boost to bulk-billing incentives – a centrepiece of the Albanese government’s budget – paired with a 4 per cent rise in Medicare rebates through indexation will deliver one of the biggest cash injections into the universal healthcare system in 30 years.
The government wants to resuscitate plummeting bulk-billing rates and lower soaring patient gap fees for GP visits, which are discouraging people from seeing their doctor and putting pressure instead on state emergency departments that are free to use.
Fewer than 65 per cent of Australians now have all their GP appointments bulk-billed, the average out-of-pocket fee is $42.44 and several electorates around the country no longer have any doctor’s clinics that offer free services.
In his budget speech on Tuesday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said too many people were finding it increasingly difficult to see a doctor, with gap fees rising, wait times extending and consultation times too squeezed.
“Families are being forced into a lose-lose choice between getting the help they need or paying their bills … it means more problems go undiagnosed or untreated,” he said.
“All of this will help take pressure off our public hospitals and emergency departments, still feeling the strain of a once-in-a-century pandemic.”
The tripled bulk-billing incentive and rebate rise, combined, mean the reimbursement for a pensioner or child in metropolitan areas will be $62.05 for a standard 20-minute consult from November, if their GP bulk-bills them – a 34 per cent increase on current rates.
In a regional area such as Cessnock in NSW, where bulk-billing clinics have all but disappeared, the benefit for a standard consult with the bulk-billing incentive will be $74.75 – almost 50 per cent more.
In the most remote parts of Australia, such as Thursday Island, the total benefit will be $81.05 for a 20-minute bulk-billed visit – or a 55 per cent boost.
Boosted bulk-billing incentives
GPs will be paid an increased incentive to bulk-bill children, pensioners and concession card holders on top of the rebate, based on their location under the “Modified Monash Model” system.
- MMM1 (metropolitan): $6.60 to $20.65
- MMM2 (eg Launceston, Tas): $10.05 to $31.40
- MMM3 (eg Cessnock, NSW): $10.65 to $33.35
- MMM4 (eg Port Augusta, SA): $10.65 to $33.35
- MMM5 (eg Renmark, SA) : $11.35 to $35.40
- MMM6 (eg Lightning Ridge, NSW): $11.95 to $37.40
- MMM7 (eg Thursday Island, Qld): $12.70 to $39.65
The government believes people who can afford high gap fees have been increasingly subsidising GP visits for the most vulnerable patients, as the Medicare rebate hasn’t kept pace with increasing costs of running a practice.
Health Minister Mark Butler hopes the tripled bulk-billing incentive for children and those with concession cards will encourage doctors to reduce the gap fees being paid by the remainder of Australians, which have topped $50 in some clinics in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney.
A new Medicare rebate of about $184 for 60-minute consults will also be introduced in November, creating a new subsidy for long appointments, which is expected to cater to women and people seeking mental health help. This will cost $98.2 million over the forward estimates.
GP Medicare rebate increases from November
- Level B consult (less than 20 minutes): $39.75 to $41.40
- Level C consult (20 minutes to 40 minutes): $76.95 to $80.10
- Level D consult (40 minutes to 60 minutes): $113.30 to $118.00
- Level E consult (60 minutes+): New category, about $184
There are no major changes to the mental health system in the May budget. The government has delayed its decision on how to serve people with complex mental health conditions until later this year, after it halved the number of Medicare-funded psychology sessions from 20 to 10 in December, prompting warnings that those in distress would be abandoned.
But it will instead make an investment in the psychologist workforce by funding 500 new postgraduate psychology places, 500 internships and 2000 supervisor training sessions for psychologists-in-training.
The $5.7 billion investment in Medicare – which includes $2.2 billion announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month – also creates new funding streams for GPs and moves away from the fee-for-service model that has driven Medicare for 40 years.
As part of that, Australians will be able to register as a continuing patient with their doctor through a new MyMedicare system to unlock extra benefits, such as longer telehealth phone sessions of 40 minutes or more.
Children and concession holders will also be able to have their bulk-billing incentive applied to longer video and phone sessions.
GPs will also receive a $2000 upfront payment if they register a patient who has been identified by the hospital system as a regular emergency department user; they will receive an additional $500 for reducing that patient’s hospital attendances.
An additional $500 million will be spent on helping GPs employ multidisciplinary teams of nurses and other health professionals such as physiotherapists – mostly by boosting the maximum incentive payment clinics can claim for that purpose to $130,000 a year.
Tuesday’s announcements come on top of the government’s promise to halve the price of 320 common medicines for millions of Australians, by doubling the medicine they can receive from one to two months’ supply.
The move was welcomed by doctors and consumer groups but has infuriated pharmacy owners who will lose dispensing and handling fees.
The budget said the government would reinvest savings of $1.2 billion back into community pharmacies, including by allowing them to administer the full national immunisation program.
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