Patient out-of-pocket costs climb

GPs might be bulk billing more patients since the Federal Government tripled incentive payments last year, but patient out-of-pocket costs have still risen.
 
Data from the latest RACGP Health of the Nation report found that one in four GPs said they are bulk billing more consults since the incentive payments were introduced.
 
Despite this, patients’ out-of-pocket costs increased to $36.86 on average for a 20-minute consult in 2024, up from $34.91 the year before – a spike of almost 6%.
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins told newsGP the increased expenditure reflects rising prices across all areas of general practice.
 
‘As a practice owner, the costs of running a practice have gone up 6.1% which is much higher than CPI,’ she said.
 
‘On top of those costs, we have an added payroll tax that is being passed on to our patients, which is further widening the gap.
 
‘General practice runs on thin margins and we’ve been subsidising the cost of patient care because patients’ Medicare rebates have not kept up with the cost, but we can’t afford to continue doing that.’
 
And this mounting pressure on general practices to stay afloat is already taking a devastating toll, with centres closing their doors at an alarming rate at the same time as a rising number of GPs are calling it quits.
 
Dr Higgins says these pressures are leaving GPs and practices ‘no choice’ but to pass on expenses.
 
‘We were at the stage where we either pass those costs on to patients or we close our doors,’ she said.
 
‘It’s important to recognise that the out-of-pocket costs have risen across the whole health sector, but it’s still much cheaper to see a GP than it is to see an allied health professional or other medical specialists.’
 
The RACGP is now calling for the Federal Government to increase all Medicare rebates for 20-minute and longer consults by 20%, with additional increases for rural and remote communities.
 
Dr Higgins says this will allow everyone to access care during the cost-of-living crisis and not just ‘a fraction of our population’.
 
After the incentives were rolled out on 1 November last year, data showed that nearly one million additional consultations were recorded less than six months into the initiative.
 
Dr Higgins says the Federal Government should be encouraged by the jump in bulk billing rates, but it must remember it is still trying to catch up after ‘decades of underfunding and the Medicare freeze’.
 
‘The targeted tripling in the bulk billing incentive has made a significant impact for our most vulnerable patients and for our rural and regional communities,’ she said.
 
‘Medicare, when it was first designed 40 years ago, was intended to cover 85% of the cost of providing care and it’s now less than 45% in general practice.
 
‘The Government needs to go much further to rebuild Medicare and general practice care, like it promised.’
 
The full 2024 RACGP Health of the Nation report will be released in October.
 
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