Central Coast bulk billing continues to improve

Medicare billing data shows the Albanese Government’s record investment to strengthen Medicare one year ago has revived bulk billing, with Central Coast residents having an additional 91,660 free visits to the GP in the past year.

*Data includes the electorates of Dobell, Robertson and Shortland.

Nationally, the investment has created an additional 103,000 bulk billed visits to the GP every week, on average, or 5.4 million additional visits since November last year.

On 1 November 2023, the Government made the largest investment in bulk billing in Medicare history, targeted to families with children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) called the investment a “game changer” and for the past 12 months, GPs said it gave them the confidence to bulk bill more often, after a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare.

In a survey of thousands of doctors by the RACGP last month, more doctors now say they are bulk billing more patients, more often.

Last week the Government released Medicare billing data for the first year since the historic investment took effect, which confirms the freefall in bulk billing it inherited has been arrested and turned around.

Families with children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders are now bulk billed much more often: 90.0 per cent of GP visits with children under 16 were bulk billed in the past year.

These 11 million Australians see their GP most often: they make up 40 per cent of patients, yet account for 60 per cent of GP visits, on average.

The historic investment in bulk billing builds on other ways the Albanese Government is strengthening Medicare to make health care more affordable and available:

Medicare billing data shows the Albanese Government’s record investment to strengthen Medicare one year ago has revived bulk billing, with Central Coast residents seeing some of the largest increases in the number of bulk billed GP visits.

The historic investment in bulk billing builds on other ways the Albanese Government is strengthening Medicare to make health care more affordable and available:

• Made the largest boost to Medicare rebates in decades, increasing rebates by more in two years than the former government did in nine years.
• Funding and opening 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, so Australians can walk in and get bulk billed urgent care, seven days a week, open early to late, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department.
• Establishing a network of 61 Medicare Mental Health Centres, so Australians can access free, walk-in mental health support and care from a multidisciplinary care team.
• Added more than 15,000 new doctors to the health system in two years, delivering the most new doctors in more than a decade.
• Boosted the number of doctors training to become GPs by almost 25%, with the Government fully funding the training of 4,800 new GPs between 2023 and 2025.
• Made medicines cheaper, saving Australians $1 billion by cutting the cost of medicines, lowering the Safety Net threshold and 60-day prescriptions.

Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:

“Medicare is for all Australians and Labor is the Party of Medicare, always.

“Labor introduced Medicare 40 years ago and we have defended and strengthened it ever since.

“We know we have more work to do to restore bulk billing after a decade of cuts from Peter Dutton and the Liberals.”

Quotes attributable to Minister Conroy:

“It’s critically important that money isn’t a barrier for people who need to access essential healthcare.”

“That’s why, after a decade of neglect under the Coalition, we made the largest investment in bulk billing in Medicare history, targeted to families with children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.”

Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister McBride:

“As a pharmacist who worked at Wyong Hospital for a decade, I know how important access to high quality, affordable healthcare is for people on the Central Coast.

“That’s why our government has been focused on strengthening Medicare.

We’ve delivered the largest investment in bulk billing in history, made medicines cheaper, and opened Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and Medicare Mental Health Centres.”

Quotes attributable to Gordon Reid MP:

“Our investments in bulk billing mean more Central Coast residents are getting bulk billed visits at the GP than they were last year.

“Families with children under 16, pensioners and concession cardholders have seen the greatest increase in bulk billing.

“This will ensure that less people are presenting to our hospital emergency departments and taking pressure off our hospitals”