LABOR’S Monash candidate, Tully Fletcher, is hopeful more doctors in regional and rural areas will bulk bill their consultations after his party announced an $8.5 billion package to boost the Medicare payment.
The Coalition has since matched Labor’s election pledge.
Speaking to the Sentinel-Times this week, Mr Fletcher said the payment to rural practices was up by as much as 98 per cent for a standard consultation in small rural towns.
“The payments for rural practices jumps to between $80.71 (regional centres) and $84.86 (small rural towns),” Mr Fletcher said, and together with provisions for hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors was a game changer for country communities.
“Labor's Medicare plan will ensure almost all GP visits are free, saving Gippslanders hundreds of dollars every year in out-of-pocket GP expenses,” said Mr Fletcher.
“For so many people and families across Monash, access to a bulk-billed GP is the difference between staying home sick or getting to school or work.”
Mr Fletcher said the $8.5 billion increase in Medicare support would deliver an additional 18 million bulk billed GP visits each year, with programs for more nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors.
“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 4800 nationally, triple the current number.
“Labor will deliver more doctors and nurses into Medicare, with 400 nursing scholarships and the largest GP training program in Australian history, funding the training of 2000 new GP trainees a year by 2028.”
Locally, the increase in Medicare support will go close to bridging the gap with a standard consultation costing around $85 and both parties now offering to boost the Medicare payment to $82.71 (large and medium rural towns).
But the offer to increase the Medicare payment in metro areas from $42.85 to $69.56, a 62 per cent increase for a standard consultation, might not be enough to convert non-bulk billing clinics to ‘free’.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen has welcomed the commitment which she believes will not only encourage those staying away from the doctor because of the cost to present when needed, it will also improve medical practice sustainability.
But she doesn’t believe it will necessarily convert most medical practices to fully bulk billed.
“In areas that are already fully bulk billing, this really helps sustainability and helps those practices keep their doors open. And in many parts of Australia, where doctors and practices have just introduced quite small out-of-pockets just to keep their businesses alive, this will help them remain open and potentially remove those out-of-pocket costs and improve accessibility for patients. In other parts of Australia, I think we need to recognise that this won't be enough to change billing practices, particularly in our large metropolitan centres where the average out-of-pocket cost is now much more than $40, and so the extra $20 incentive doesn't meet those increased costs of care but does allow us for patients who really can't afford to pay, it does give GPs a bit more flexibility to choose to make that decision.”
“We need a rethink of Medicare rebates to ensure today’s patients who have increasingly complex needs get the care they require. Today’s patients have more chronic disease, more mental illness, and our population is aging. Australians need more time with their GP, but the structure of Medicare encourages shorter consultations, meaning many patients face out-of-pocket costs.
"The AMA has proposed a generational reform to Medicare that would introduce a new seven-tier general practice consultation item structure that is fit-for-purpose and designed to meet the challenges of the growing burden of complex and chronic disease.
“While bulk billing incentives will now be available for all patients, it is important for the public to understand that general practices will still need to set their fees based on an assessment of the costs they face in running a modern medical practice.”
Dr McMullen welcomed funding to grow Australia’s GP training places to 2000 by 2028.