The GP bulk billing rate has risen by 2.1 percentage points in the first two months since the Australian Government tripled the bulk billing incentive but critics say that is not enough and the Health Minister is under fire for expecting rural Australians to “ring-around” to find a GP.
The increase comes off the back of the Government’s $6.1 billion Strengthening Medicare reforms and is the largest investment in bulk billing in Medicare’s 40-year history. This increase in the bulk billing rate means Australians had an estimated 360,000 additional trips to the GP bulk billed since the tripled incentive began on 1 November…