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Affordable healthcare remains elusive for many: Report
Cost is the ‘fault line’ in Australia’s health system, says a new report. An RACGP expert says better targeted funding is needed.
Affordability remains the greatest barrier to healthcare for Australians.
Most Australians have trust in the quality and reliability of healthcare in Australia, according to a new national survey. Their ability to afford it, however, is another matter.
That’s according to the 2025 National Consumer Sentiment Survey, an annual survey of around 5000 Australian adults by the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF).
CHF CEO Dr Elizabeth Deveny described the gap between consumer confidence in care and confidence in affordability as ‘the fault line in our health system’.
‘Australians still trust the care they receive,’ she said.
‘What they don’t trust is whether they can afford it when they need it.’
Of the respondents to this year’s survey, 50.6% said they are ‘very or extremely confident’ they will receive quality, safe care if seriously ill. However, only 32.3% feel confident they could afford that care.
Further, 49.8% of people said they missed out on care they needed in the past year, citing cost as the main reason.
Dr Tim Senior, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Poverty and Health, believes the survey shows funding isn’t reaching the people who need it most.
‘That’s what we see coming through in this survey, high rates of financial stress, people who are under financial stress experiencing really huge problems accessing medical care when they need it,’ he told newsGP.
‘The Medicare changes, while welcome in terms of extra funding, they’re not targeted towards people who have the most financial stress.
‘There is extra funding, but it’s not targeted by affordability. It’s a really blunt weapon in terms of ensuring affordability of healthcare.’
Dr Senior said while a patient may receive a rebated consultation, they might not have the funds to follow through with their treatment to ‘complete what’s required for management of that condition’.
‘It requires specialist input or medications that people can’t afford, so you effectively spend money at the beginning of that pathway that is wasted because it can’t actually lead on to doing anything,’ he said.
The CHF report shows overall satisfaction with the quality of care from providers is high, at 81.6%.
However, 57.1% of respondents said government spending on healthcare is too low, with the three priority areas for reform being:
- more health workers (66.7%)
- lower costs for care and medicines (60.2%)
- better access (43.1%).
Dr Senior said it is important to acknowledge the Federal Government ‘has done some good work recently’
putting funding into expanding GP training places, but the fruits of that funding will take time to become evident.
‘We don’t see that maybe for another five to 10 years, for consumers, they’re not going to be aware of that yet,’ he said.
In good news for GPs, the report shows GPs remain the most-accessed in-person healthcare provider, with 83.1% reporting seeing a GP in 2025, compared to 81% in 2024.
Among respondents, 86.4% also report high satisfaction with in-person care from GPs.
Dr Senior said he is pleased to see so many people seeing GPs.
‘GPs are being seen more commonly than pharmacists – despite a lot of the agenda of governments in broadening the scope, patients actually still want to see GPs and value seeing their GPs,’ he said.
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