Bulk-billing incentives a 'gamechanger', but Canberra still lags behind

The territory's bulk-billing rate increased by 1.9 percentage points from October - to 53.4 per cent - but overall, it is being outperformed by every other state and territory by at least 17 percentage points.

The Albanese government tripled bulk-billing incentive payments for doctors from November 1 last year, and expanded the types of consultations which could be bulk-billed.

The incentive is paid in addition to the Medicare benefit when doctors bulk-bill children under 16, pensioners and other Commonwealth concession card holders.

In major cities like Canberra, this meant the sum doctors receive rose from $46.35 to $62.05 for a 20-minute consultation.

The government estimates that this contributed to an additional 2800 bulk-billed visits to Canberra doctors in November and December 2023, lifting the territory's rate of bulk-billed GP visits to 53.4 per cent from 51.5 per cent.

While the improvement was just below the nationwide increase - up by 2.1 percentage points - the ACT trails well behind the national average rate of 77.7 per cent.

Western Australia, which recorded the second lowest bulk-billing rates in the country, outperformed Canberra by 17.4 percentage points.

Federal Labor representatives welcomed the improvement on Thursday, announced on the 40^th anniversary of Medicare.

"Labor introduced Medicare and only Labor can be trusted to strengthen and protect it," ACT senator Katy Gallagher said in a statement.

"Canberrans are finding it easier to see a bulk-billing doctor and gap fees have begun to fall because of Labor's efforts to strengthen Medicare.

"This is delivering significant cost of living relief for people in the ACT."

Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh said access to bulk-billing "can be a gamechanger for household budgets", while Canberra MP Alicia Payne said the party was "taking strong steps" to improve access to affordable health care.

Bean MP David Smith said "it is good to see that our policy on strengthening of Medicare is starting to make a difference on the ground".

The average gap fee for patients in the ACT also reduced by $2.37 since incentives were introduced, down to $45.47 in December.

Yet the proportion of clinics actually offering bulk-billing in the ACT has dipped as low as 3.8 per cent, a survey by healthcare comparison site Cleanbill found in January.

Cleanbill surveyed 87 of 98 clinics in Canberra, and found only three bulk-billed. These included: Kambah Medical Centre, HealthFount Medical Centre and Ngunnawal General Practice.

Lack of access to bulk-billing in Canberra is well documented, with experts blaming a lower rate of general practitioners than other urban areas.

The ACT also lost out on some bulk-billing incentives for rural areas when a new classification system was introduced in 2020.

Labor's health spokesperson at the time, Chris Bowen, called on then-Health Minister Greg Hunt to consider mitigating the impacts.

The federal government estimated an additional 360,000 trips to GPs had been bulk-billed across the country, following its increase to incentives.

NSW continued to have the highest rates of bulk-billing, improving 1.7 percentage points to an overall of 82.3 per cent of visits in December.

Tasmania and South Australia saw the greatest improvements under the new incentives.

The number of GP visits which were bulk-billed in Tasmania climbed by 5.7 percentage points over the period, to 72 per cent. In South Australia, the rate improved by 3.8 percentage points to 74.5 per cent.