Growth in bulk-billing rates starts to level off

Bulk-billing rates are still rising but the pace of change has slowed significantly after an initial surge from the expanded incentives launch last year, new data shows.
 
In a Government snapshot of figures released this week, the average bulk-billing rate stood at 81.9% for January–March this year, 0.5 percentage points higher than the 81.4% recorded for the first three months of the program (November 2025–January 2026).
 
It also represents a steep increase from the previous 12 months, growing by 4.6 percentage points nationally from the same time last year, while rates for non-concessional patients went up by 8.5 percentage points to 72.5%.

While there was wide variation in the pace of change across jurisdictions, it broadly aligned with the previous shift reported in February, with the Northern Territory showing the biggest leap.
 
Its three-monthly bulk-billing average stood at 89.8%, an increase of almost 14 percentage points from the same time the previous year.
 
Other year-on-year increases ranged from four percentage points (for both NSW and Queensland, to 85.6% and 79.5% respectively) to 5.9 in South Australia.
 
The exception was the ACT, where the rise was a much more muted increase of just 1.4 percentage points, putting it at 54.1%.
 
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright told newsGP the slow-down in the growth of bulk-billing rates is ‘no surprise’.
 
‘If the Medicare rebates don’t cover the costs of care, then practices are going to have to charge out-of-pocket costs,’ he said.

‘This investment has helped – it’s good to see this is increasing access for some people, particularly in rural and regional areas where the incentives are highest.
 
‘But if we’re serious about improving access for GP services, the next thing we need to do is increase the Medicare rebate for longer and more complex consultations – that will make them more affordable, that will increase the bulk-billing rates for these items and also reduce the out-of-pocket costs for people who are paying fees.’
 
The latest data release also includes more granular figures by individual Primary Health Networks (PHNs).
 
It shows the ACT continuing a trend of having the lowest rates in the country, with financial pressures significantly affecting its fully bulk-billing clinics in recent years.
 
It has been the target of a substantial Government intervention in the market, with a $24.3 million package announced last year for three new fully bulk-billed clinics in the area.
 
Last week, Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler also announced a second market intervention of $25.3 million for six new bulk-billing clinics in the Hunter New England and Central Coast area to be installed by mid-2027.
 
The newly released data shows that part of NSW has a bulk billing rate of 77.8% for the latest quarter.
 
While that is lower than the national average, several other areas are lower still, including North Sydney (73.5%), as well as the ACT, Brisbane North (70.9%), and Perth North and Perth South (68% and 76.4% respectively).

The Hunter New England and Central Coast PHN area also increased its bulk-billing rate by more percentage points (4.7) year-on-year than the national and state average (4.6 and 4.0 respectively), going up from 73.1% in the same quarter of 2024–25.
 
‘It is interesting to see these figures in the Hunter, which suggests that the current incentives are already doing a good job,’ Dr Wright said.
 
‘It certainly makes me question the need for other interventions which could distort the market.’
 
As well as a slowing rise in bulk-billing rates, the latest figures show a tapering in the number of general practices signing up to the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP).
 
However, the latest total – recently stated at more than 3800 in the past week – is well ahead of initial Government projections, outstripping a target of 3600 within the first two years of the expanded program going live.
 
As the number of bulk-billing clinics increases, fewer patients are paying a gap fee – but for those that do, the average out-of-pocket has increased substantially in 12 months from $51.89 to $61.30 nationally, the new figures also show.
 
That increase is likely to reflect clinics with smaller out-of-pocket costs moving across to BBPIP.
 
The average cost to patients per GP non-referred service, including those that were bulk billed, was $11.02, down from $11.87 the previous year.
 
The Government aims to hit a 90% bulk-billing target by 2030.
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

BBPIP Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Payment bulk-billing MBS Medicare