Tripling Medicare’s bulk-billing incentives was the centrepiece of the Federal Government’s budget sell.

According to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, when the funding starts to flow in November, “more doctors will bulk-bill as a consequence of us paying them three times what they were getting before to do it”.  

But he cannot guarantee it. He can only hope that GPs decide the changed financial equation is reason enough to bulk-bill more patients.

The other big question is whether the billions in extra subsidies for bulk-billed children and concession card holders suggest the government is less concerned with the rest of the population and their capacity to pay out-of-pocket fees.