Wagga GPs blame poor Medicare rebates for decrease in bulk billing services and appointments

Medicare rebates health professionals claim to be financially unsustainable mean script renewals and quick referral appointments can now cost $30 - $40 out of pocket.

Local doctors say they can no longer bulk bill appointments, in some cases even for concession cardholders.

Glenrock Country Practice GP and former Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Ayman Shenouda placed the onus of blame on the federal government.

"If you want to deliver quality care as a practice you cannot afford to bulk bill patients anymore," he said.

"It's a shame because all the practices want is to give access to patients.

"The government is forcing doctors to bulk bill patients."

GPs are currently rebated $39.75 per under-20-minute patient appointment, with about half of that going towards practice expenses according to Dr Shenouda.

"This every year should increase by the CPI [Consumer Price Index] but the government haven't done that for a long time," he said.

"I know of practices closing around the country because they cannot afford to keep the doors open - it's really becoming an issue."

Despite newly released statistics showing an 82.2 per cent national bulk billing rate in 2021/22, health minister Mark Butler last week acknowledged the health system's current struggles.

"Primary care is in its worst shape since Medicare began," he said.

Blamey Street Surgery GP Dr Rachel Glasson said the gap between what a consultation costs doctors and the "grossly inadequate" rebate offered by Medicare is "ever widening".

"Basically what you're asking me to do if I bulk bill you is work for free because the majority of that cost for that consultation goes to the practice," she said.

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"It is no longer viable to bulk bill patients because practices will go broke.

"And just recently, there have been a whole group of bulk billing practices owned by a company called Tristar that have gone broke."

Dr Glasson said the price of running a healthcare practice has risen dramatically in the past 10 years with advancements in technology.

"It has really given us the tools to provide very comprehensive, high-quality health care but it comes at a cost," she said.

"The government has undervalued primary care so badly for so long now that people think, 'it's just a GP, why do I have to pay for that?'"

The Department of Health and Aged Care were contacted for comment.

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