More for bulk billing coming, but only for some

MEDICARE incentives for doctors who bulk bill will soon triple, with the aim of increasing the number of medical professionals who provide the payment option in the region.

The increase is the biggest raise in the 40-year history of Medicare, as the Federal Government seeks to tackle the decrease in GPs choosing to use the service, although it’s limited to selected patients.

The incentives will apply to bulk billing services for pensioners, concession card holders, and children under 16, and will commence from 1 November.

For a 15-minute consultation, doctors in Bendigo will receive $31.40, rather than $10.05, for a total of $72.80 covered by Medicare per visit.

Those in Heathcote will get a higher incentive of $35.40, rather than $11.35, for a total coverage of $76.80.

Chair of Bendigo Primary Care, Chris Holmes said, as it stands, many doctors can’t afford to offer patients bulk billing.

“Our GPs are very dedicated to their patient group,” he said.

“[This] gives them the choice to look after those patients without feeling that they either have to make hard decisions about whether to see, or how many they can see, and gives them increased flexibility.

“I think it’s really important that doctors have that choice, because at the moment the people who most need healthcare are the ones who are really suffering to access it.

“Primary care is the absolute cornerstone of our healthcare system, without it we won’t have a healthcare system, we’ll just have a sickness care system.

“Everyone will get sicker earlier and be requiring hospital care and specialist care that they otherwise wouldn’t have needed.”

Acting general manager of Bendigo Primary Care, Callum Wright, said doctors want to be able to offer the care their patients need.

“Ninety-nine per cent of them are doing the right thing, and because Medicare has been neglected for so long, they’ve become the charity in the system,” he said.

“As the manager here, who sees the guys in the lunchroom or they come into my office, you see the tears welling up in the eyes when they know there’s someone who needs the care that they can provide, but they can’t afford it.”

Federal Member for Bendigo, Lisa Chesters, said the current rates are not sustainable to keep clinics open.

“GPs can now choose to bulk bill patients if they want to because they will be properly rewarded by the Government,” she said.

“If you’re a pensioner, if you’ve got a child under 16 who needs to see a GP, you don’t have to think about where am I going to find the gap fee? If you’ve a doctor that bulk bills, they will now be paid properly to bulk bill and see you.”

Ms Chesters said waiting until 1 November allows clinics to prepare for the changes and patients not automatically eligible for bulk billing will still need to pay the difference between the consultation fee and the Medicare rebate.

“This measure restores bulk billing to some of the most vulnerable in our community, those who earn the smallest incomes, and the proportion of people who present the most: children under 16 and concession card holders,” she said.

“For some GPs, that will be 70 per cent plus of their patient workload.

“There’s only so many dollars in the health budget, and what the Government’s decided to do is invest it in the people who’ve been trying to keep concession card holders, and pensioners, and children healthy.”

Ms Chesters said more than 76,000 patients across the electorate will likely benefit from the changes.