RACGP President questions Government bulk-billing rates

RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon has publicly questioned the widely touted 86% bulk-billing rate, suggesting the real figures are ‘potentially embarrassing’ for the Government.
 
Dr Nespolon’s comments came in a wide-ranging interview on Sky News. They were made in response to a question from host Chris Kenny over whether the message that people cannot afford to see a doctor is misleading given bulk-billing rates are at record highs and the Medicare freeze has ended.
 
Dr Nespolon pointed to a 2018 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report that found one million Australians could not afford to see their doctor.
 
‘When we talk bulk-billing rates, we’re talking services, not about the number of people who have been charged,’ he said.
 
‘The Government never releases those figures, I presume because they’re potentially embarrassing. Our guess is it’s probably one third to one quarter of the population paying to see their GPs at the moment.
 
‘[The messages] are not misleading at all. It’s the way you present your statistics.
 
‘We do know that out-of-pocket expenses are increasing every year and will continue to increase every year. The Medicare freeze has stopped, but that’s in 2019, and from 2013 to 2018 it took about a billion dollars out of general practice and we haven’t seen a red razoo of that back.’
 
Later in the interview, Dr Nespolon pointed out that by 2023 general practice would be around $2.45 billion short of where funding would have been had the Medicare freeze not been put in place.
 
Dr Nespolon also dubbed the election campaign – from both major parties – as ‘very quiet’ for primary care funding.
 
‘Lots of money has been thrown at the usual suspects, which are hospitals, and pathology got some more money,’ he said.
 
‘The really big issue as far as we’re concerned is that the part of the healthcare sector that sees most Australians … 90% of Australians each year, which is primary care, your local GP. It seems that both parties … have been very quiet about it during the election campaign.’ 
 
Dr Nespolon appeared alongside former Howard Government health adviser Terry Barnes, who in response claimed that the lifting of the Medicare freeze is positive for primary care.
 
‘As far as general practice goes, basically the Government ended the Medicare rebate freeze in the budget and that’s Labor party policy, anyway. So general practice is being loved by both sides of politics,’ Mr Barnes said. 
 
Mr Kenny suggested the ‘incredibly high salaries’ of doctors might be linked to waste in the healthcare sector.
 
In response, Dr Nespolon said that specialist fees are expensive and patients often talk about the cost.
 
‘In terms of general practice, we are the most efficient, cheapest part of the healthcare system, the part that sees most people,’ he said.
 
‘Like most countries on Earth, [we should be] trying to improve primary care because we know in the long run that the tertiary and secondary [healthcare] sectors are going to become completely unaffordable and inaccessible for most people.’
 
Dr Nespolon also said the RACGP has been pushing ‘very hard’ for more services for mental health care and for better ways of delivering comprehensive care to very unwell patients.

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