Labor has announced that, if re-elected this year, it will deliver a major $8.5 billion funding boost for Medicare, which it says would lead to nine out of 10 GP visits being bulk billed by 2030.
The plan — which the government is describing as the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation more than 40 years ago — has two major components.
The first is an expansion of the bulk billing incentive, a payment that clinics receive for bulk billing patient visits.
Labor but it's currently only applied to children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.
Under Labor's campaign promise, the incentive would be extended to all Australians from November 2025.
The second component is the introduction of an incentive payment for clinics that bulk bill every patient, to be set at 12.5 per cent of a practice's Medicare rebates.
The government has said that these two policies will triple the number of fully bulk billed practices to around 4,800 nationally by 2030.
According to the government's analysis, $859 million would be saved each year in out-of-pocket costs under the plan.
Medicare shaping up as key election issue
Citing Australian Medical Association data, Health Minister Mark Butler said the plan would address $8.3 billion that was cut from Medicare due to the Coalition's freezing of Medicare rebates over a decade ago.
While it was Labor that initially froze rebates in 2013, it said at the time that this was only a temporary measure.
After the Coalition won the 2013 federal election, then health minister Peter Dutton announced the freeze would be extended.
Previously, rebates were increased to keep pace with inflation — a process known as indexation. The freeze essentially put indexation on ice.
In a clear sign that Labor is seeking to make Medicare a key federal election issue, Butler homed in on the Opposition leader in the statement accompanying the campaign announcement.
"Peter Dutton tried to end bulk billing with a GP tax and then started a six-year freeze to Medicare rebates that froze GP incomes and stripped billions out of Medicare," he said.
"There is no question that when it comes to Medicare, you’ll be worse off under Dutton."
The current state of bulk-billing
Recent health department data showed the proportion of all GP visits nationwide that were bulk billed increased from 75.6 per cent to 77.3 per cent between October 2023 and October 2024.
The rate was 83.1 per cent in the December quarter of 2013, the first full quarter after the 2013 election, and rose to 87 per cent in the June quarter of 2022, the last quarter during which the Coalition was in power.
Bulk-billing rates spiked shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020 but started tailing off from mid-2021.
The figures were on a downward trajectory until 2024 — a reversal that Labor has attributed to its tripling of the bulk-billing incentive.
However, data from other organisations paints a less flattering picture of bulk billing than the health department statistics.
In early February, the Productivity Commission published data showing that 47.7 per cent of patients had all their visits to the GP fully bulk billed in 2023–24.
The commission's annual government services report showed this number had fallen from 51.7 percent in 2022–23.
In January, healthcare directory Cleanbill found that across the nation offered bulk billing to non-concession card holders.
Across the states and territories, NSW GP clinics had the highest rate of bulk billing (34.5 per cent) and Tasmania the lowest (0 per cent).
Analysis from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found 8.8 per cent of people in 2023-24 reported not visiting the GP due to costs — up from 7 per cent in 2022-23.
In 2021-22, only 3.5 percent of people put off or did not see a GP when they needed to due to the cost.
With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press
