Huge $7.9 billion Medicare overhaul coming this weekend

A $7.9 billion Medicare overhaul will take effect on Saturday, meaning more Australians will soon be able to see their doctor for free.

Currently, those with a Commonwealth concession card and children aged under 16 are able to access bulk-billed services at the doctor.

However from November 1, the Government will be expanding its service, allowing access for bulk-billing services for all Australians with a Medicare card.

Additionally, the Government will introduce the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP), which gives an extra 12.5 per cent incentive payment that can be split between the GP and practices that sign up for the program.

The Medicare overhaul was a fixture of Anthony Albanese and Labor’s Federal Election campaign.

The Prime Minister pledged an $8b investment into Medicare in February, after rates of bulk billing began to plummet.

Bulk billing rates fell to 78 per cent in 2024 – down from 89 per cent in 2020.

Mr Albanese said that by 2030, nine out of 10 GPs would offer the bulk-billing service.

In order to hit this target, about 4800 practices need to sign up for the service.

However, only 900 practices have so far signed up for the service, Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler confirmed on Monday.

“We expect that number to increase over the course of this week and that understates a whole lot of practices that I’m sure will be taking the decision to do this but just haven’t informed the Government yet,” he said.

“We’re very confident there’s going to be a big expansion of bulk billing between this week and next week as a result of the record investment that we’ve made.”

He said there would be a “first wave” of practices that adopt the bulk-billing services before others follow suit.

“I think general practices will start to see that the practice down the road or around the corner has moved to fully bulk billing, and they take that more seriously themselves,” he said.

“This will take some time to build but I’m really delighted at the first indication of support we’ve got from the general practice community.”

He said the move would not only benefit patients, but also the GPs and practices who earlier rejected the BBPIP, arguing it would favour larger practices.

“Two years ago, a full-time, fully bulk-billing GP would have been earning about $280,000 a year after they paid their practice costs,” he said.

“From this weekend, they’ll be earning $405,000 a year – a $125,000 increase. This investment is obviously good for the Medicare system, good for patients, but it’s also good for GPs themselves.”