Biggest investment in Medicare in more than 40 years

[Pelican Press 0]

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Biggest investment in Medicare in more than 40 years

Australians will have access to an extra 18 million bulk-billed general practitioner visits a year as part of a major election pledge from the federal government.

The election date has yet to be announced but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a re-elected Labor government would spend $8.5 billion expanding bulk billing and training GPs and nurses.

“I want every *********** to know they only need their Medicare card, not their credit card, to receive the health care they need,” he is expected to tell reporters on Sunday in Launceston.

“This is a policy that lifts up our entire nation and ensures no one is held back and no one is left behind.”

Fewer GP clinics have been taking on bulk-billed patients as they struggle to keep up with rising operational costs and increasing service complexity.

Australia’s bulk-billing rate plummeted to 20.7 per cent at the start of 2025, down from 35.7 per cent two years earlier, according to data released by health care directory Cleanbill in January.

The proposed cash injection would be the biggest investment in Medicare since its creation 40 years ago, the government said.

Also in deep election mode, Mark Butler’s gloves are off, with the health minister taking a well-aimed swing at federal Opposition Leader and former health minister Peter Dutton.

“Australia’s doctors voted Peter Dutton the worst health minister in Medicare history for a reason,” he said in a statement, referring to a 2015 poll in *********** Doctor Magazine.

“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.”

The coalition is expected to defend Mr Dutton’s record, claiming a 1.5 per cent increase in bulk billing rates during his term as health minister in 2013 and a more than 10 per cent fall in rates since Labor took office in 2022.

The federal election must be held on a Saturday on or before May 17.

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