From today the Federal Government's tripling the bulk-billing incentive for GPs when they treat children under 16, pensioners and other commonwealth concession card holders. The boost was announced in the Federal Government's budget earlier this year. It's expected that more than 11 million Australians will benefit from the changes.
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TVTranscript
00:00 We're talking about the bulk billing incentive that GPs get when they bulk bill a patient
00:07 and as you mentioned those categories of children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.
00:14 So that incentive will now triple.
00:17 The government expects that more than 11 million Australians fall into those categories and
00:22 by increasing this incentive for doctors, it will encourage more of them to offer bulk
00:29 billing and that will take pressure off our overstretched hospital system.
00:34 So we know that bulk billing in clinics around the country has been declining.
00:39 One online health directory estimates just 35% of clinics offer bulk billing.
00:46 Health Minister Mark Butler was addressing this on News Breakfast this morning.
00:50 Take a listen.
00:51 The Medicaid rebate was frozen for six or seven years last decade.
00:56 We then had the impact of COVID and then we've had the impact of the global cost of living
01:00 shock.
01:01 So general practice really has been in a very parlous state and that's translated into
01:05 a sharp reduction in bulk billing rates.
01:07 We're confident this will start to change.
01:10 Practice after practice have been telling me and my colleagues that if they have moved
01:15 away from bulk billing, particularly kids and pensioners, they're going to return to
01:19 bulk billing.
01:20 Now the reason that some general practitioners have turned away from bulk billing is because
01:26 it's costing GPs more to see patients and that's because of things like increased rent
01:31 and medical supplies and electricity costs and that sort of thing.
01:36 But as you could hear there from Mark Butler, the government is hoping these increased incentives
01:41 will help to turn that around.
01:42 We've heard from the Australian Medical Association.
01:45 They have welcomed the changes.
01:47 They said that these increased incentives should help practitioners to care for those
01:52 vulnerable patients and or rather bulk bill those vulnerable patients.
01:56 So the incentives, as we have mentioned, are tripling in metro areas.
02:00 They're going from around $6.85 to just above $20 and then that increases in very remote
02:08 parts of the country from around $13 to nearly $40.
02:14 But some doctors have previously pointed out when we're talking about these metropolitan
02:19 incentives that the gap that a patient would usually pay is around $40.
02:24 So the $20 doesn't quite make that up while it does make a difference but doesn't quite
02:30 go the full way.
02:31 So some doctors have pointed out that there is still that financial hit for practices
02:37 which some might not be able to cover.
02:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]