Mark Butler says tripled incentives have ‘stopped the slide’ after GP bulk-billing rises
GP Dr Ken McCroary says patients without concession cards are still suffering.
GP bulk-billing has bounced back by 2.1% in the two months since the Federal Government tripled bulk-billing incentives, the Minister for Health and Aged Care says.
Mark Butler released statistics on Thursday showing that the bulk-billing rate for GP services rose from 75.6% in October to 77.7% in December.
The figures suggested that GP bulk-billing across the 2023 October-December quarter was around 76.6% — still a fall from 80.5% in the same three-month period of 2022.
But Mr Butler said the government had “succeeded in stopping the slide” of bulk-billing rates.
