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Doctors say a multibillion-dollar spend on Medicare will not hit bulk-billing targets because it doesn't match the actual cost of care.
With an election looming, both the federal government and opposition have now pledged to significantly increase rebates for visits to the doctor.
After announcing his planned $8.5 billion boost to incentives for doctors who bulk bill, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited a GP clinic in the Melbourne marginal seat of Chisholm today.
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"It makes a difference, the quality of health care," he said.
"We believe that people should be able to see a doctor for free."
He has set a bulk-billing target of 90 per cent by 2030 if he wins the election.
It's currently 77.5 per cent, with the gap widening between the Medicare rebate and what patients pay.
In NSW, Victoria and Western Australia, the average out-of-pocket cost for a standard visit to the GP is $43.
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GP visits in Queensland ($44), Tasmania ($48) and the ACT ($50) are all more expensive.
The cheapest are South Australia at $36 and the Northern Territory at $40.
Every state and territory is well above the $26.70 extra being offered to GPs to bulk bill.
"Extending the bulk-billing rates to everyone doesn't mean that everyone's going to get bulk-billed because the Medicare rebates still don't exceed the cost of care in most places," RACGP president Dr Michael Wright said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he believed "the doctors are right to be sceptical".
Dutton has cut-and-pasted Labor's policy as his own, throwing in an extra half a billion dollars to restore mental health support.
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"We have to have a strong general practice network because if we don't, people just turn up to emergency departments," Dutton said.
It means no matter who wins the next election, Medicare is a multibillion-dollar winner.
When asked on Today how the government would afford it, Health Minister Mark Butler said it'll be laid out in the next budget update.
The health minister perhaps let slip there won't be a full budget in March, which would mean the nation will soon tumble into an official election campaign.
