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Doctors in South Australia are warning it's going to become even more expensive to see them if upcoming changes to payroll tax aren't dropped.
Multiple healthcare bodies are urging the state government to rethink it and are appealing to patients for their support too.
South Australian GPs say they'll have to do away with bulk billing and jack up fees by about $12 per visit thanks to a payroll tax that's about to come into force.
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Across his two southern suburbs practices, Dr Daniel Byrnes says the tax will cost him $140,000 a year.
Byrnes described it as "like a GST on health".
"There's only one place that can come from, and that's patient revenue," he said.
"It's absurd, it's ludicrous and I'm totally sick of it."
Sonia Mastantuono is about to start a family and the last thing she needs is a jump in doctors' bills.
"I've got a mortgage, I pay all the bills," she said.
"Fuel prices are expensive. It'll add up for sure."
Right now, clinics already pay the payroll tax on employees like nurses and receptionists.
From July 1, that will apply to GPs too.
Sian Goodson from the RACGP said although the legislation hasn't changed, the way it's being interpreted has.
"GPs aren't employees, they work independently – they don't get sick pay, don't get annual leave, don't get study leave," she said.
Three out of four patients at a clinic in Salisbury are concession card holders and GPs say they'll all have to start footing the bill once the tax comes into effect.
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"It doesn't seem fair, does it? Because it affects all the people who haven't got the money to pay for it," patient Pauline Wright said.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the changes are not a new tax.
"We have not changed a law, we have not changed a regulation, we have not changed a policy," he said.
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In other states, governments have stepped in to soften the impact on GPs.
There are calls now for that to happen in South Australia too.
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