‘Troubling increase’ in patients avoiding GP due to cost

Even many of Australia’s most wealthy patients are now forgoing healthcare due to the ever-rising cost of living.
 
That is according to the new Access denied: Australians locked out of quality healthcare report, which found that since 2020, there has been a 246% increase in New South Wales residents delaying or avoiding a GP visit due to cost.
 
In what the report labelled a ‘dramatic increase’, this equates to 2.8% of residents avoiding healthcare in 2020, compared to 9.5% in 2024.
 
The NSW Council of Social Services (NCOSS) investigation found that for low-income earners, there was a 301% rise, and for middle- and high-income earners, it was up 243%.
 
However, it also found that nine out of 10 residents believed their GP spent enough time with them.
 
And even in regional NSW, the number of patients waiting more than 24 hours to see a GP was 4.8%, and just 3.5% in greater Sydney.
 
NCOSS used the data from the 2023 patient experience survey from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as well as its own ‘data estimations carried out for this series of NCOSS patient experience research in 2020 and 2024’.
 
Importantly, the 2023 survey was taken before the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive was brought into effect on 1 November, leading to an immediate boost to bulk-billing rates nationwide.
 
‘Generally, more financially vulnerable cohorts of the population are among the most impacted, including those on low incomes, unemployed or not in the labour force,’ the NCOSS report said.
 
‘However, the proportion of people on middle and high incomes delaying due to cost also increased significantly, at roughly the same rate or slightly higher than the overall population.
 
‘This reflects that growing cost-of-living pressures are impacting access to healthcare across income brackets across the whole of society.’
 
RACGP NSW&ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman said it is a similar situation right across Australia.
 
‘The RACGP is absolutely calling on the Government to look at this because the patient’s rebate hasn’t been indexed along with CPI for the last decade,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘And small business costs are going up, costs of superannuation, and wages, and electricity, and everything increases, and unless the patient rebate increases, there will absolutely be increased out-of-pocket costs.
 
‘Just to be able to turn the lights on and open the door, any increase, any improvement in patient rebates, would absolutely be welcomed by GPs.’
 
The NCOSS report also revealed that delays in seeing a GP were significantly higher in 2024 in regional NSW than in greater Sydney, almost 2.5 times.
 
‘It is also clear that fewer visits and more delayed visits overall has not decreased the pressure on GP services,’ the report said.
 
Cohorts of the population with the highest number of GP visits for their own health were people aged 65 years and older with 5.9 visits, and people aged 15–24 years reported the least number of visits with 2.6.
 
In response, the RACGP has long been calling for an increase in all Medicare rebates for Level B, Level C and Level D consultations by 20%.
 
It also wants to see an additional increase to MMM 3–7 areas, as per the distribution of the bulk-billing incentive.
 
Dr Hoffman said she is seeing firsthand patients presenting later and sicker due to the cost of healthcare.
 
‘Whereas they maybe previously came at the beginning of an illness, it might be day two, four, five into the illness when they’re presenting now,’ she said.
 
‘The things that we really want to make sure doesn’t slip off is all of the great stuff that GPs do around preventive care, and so it’s really important that patients can afford to see a GP and to see a GP regularly.
 
‘That saves lives and that’s what patients need, but it’s also really important to pick these things up from a financial point of view, because if we can identify these things early, then that’s a cost saving for the Government as well.’
 
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