TRANSCRIPT
It's the fortieth anniversary of Medicare - a Labor legacy introduced to make healthcare as simple, cheap and as fair possible.
Medicare is Australia's universal health insurance scheme.
It allows all Australians, and some overseas visitors, access to a range of health and hospital services at low or no cost.
But a Productivity Commission report has revealed the number of people delaying or not attending appointments due to price has doubled - rising from 3.5 to seven per cent in 12 months.
Health Minister Mark Butler has defended Medicare, citing an improvement since this incentives were increased.
"In the last two months since that money started to hit general practices, we've also seen an increase in bulk-billing. In November and December alone, just two months, there were 360,000 additional free visits to the doctor."
In November last year, the government tripled the bulk-billing incentive for doctors to encourage more GP clinics to offer bulk-billing services.
November data revealed a 2.1 per cent rise in the GP bulk-billing rate after GP clinics received extra incentives to bulk-bill patients on concession cards, under the age of 16 or in regional areas.
The number of GP clinics offering bulk-billing has increased in every state and territory.
Tasmania has recorded the highest increase at 5.7 percentage points, followed by South Australia with 3.8 percentage points.
The Health Minister says the impacts of these extra financial incentives have been mostly felt in the regions.
"Well more than half of those additional free visits that I talked about - well more than half of them - are outside of our major cities, where some of the access to general practice is the most difficult."
Peta Rutherford is the chief executive officer of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia.
She says the incentives will help slow down the increasing cost of doctors appointments for people living in rural areas.
"Particularly in remote Australia, what we saw was the highest rates of bulk-billing but also the highest rates of out-of-pocket expenses. And what that was showing was that really - you know - across the whole patient cohort, that there needed to be a balance and cross-subsidy and support to ensure that the general practice could keep its doors open. And with the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive, that out-of-pocket expense growth will slow down a little bit."
According to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, annual bulk-billing rates hit a 10-decade low in August last year due to cost of living pressures.
This, in turn, puts pressure on the system, with more people delaying their doctors' visits or not attending at all due to high appointment costs when sessions aren't bulk-billed.
Steve Robson is the president of the Australian Medical Association.
He told the ABC one big issue is attracting young doctors to the profession.
"One of the problems is at the moment, general practice has been so neglected, doctors - young doctors - don't want to be general practitioners, so we're hoping that these incentives will make that an attractive career path again. We'll have more GPs training and that will ease pressure on the systems and allow Australians to get the care they need."
But Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, has criticised the government's decision to invest more in Medicare.
She says addressing the cost of living crisis is a more effective avenue for healthcare accessibility.
"If this government cared about your health costs, they would do something about the cost of living crisis so Australians could actually afford to go to the doctor. Think about groceries, think about power prices, think about insurances, think about going back to school and all of the costs that that entails. Think about the cost of living crisis that ordinary Australians are facing."
