Doorstop Interview - September Quarter Bulk Billing Figures
Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, attends a doorstop interview to announce the September Quarter 2004 Bulk Billing Figures.
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Previous Ministers12 November 2004
Doorstop Interview - September Quarter Bulk Billing Figures
I’m here today to announce the September quarter Medicare bulk billing figures, and it’s more good news from the Howard government. The bulk billing rate has increased in the September quarter to seventy-one point eight per cent of all GP consultations. That’s a one point one per cent increase on the June quarter and it’s a five point three per cent increase from the December quarter of last year.
This is good news for patients. It’s a sign that the government’s policies to strengthen and protect Medicare are working. And it’s the first time since 1995 that the Medicare bulk billing rate has increased in three successive quarters. So, good news for patients and more evidence that the government’s policies to protect and strengthen Medicare are working well.
Reporter:
How is the situation looking in regional Queensland compared to the city?
Abbott:
We won’t have an area by area break up of the bulk billing figures until February next year. We only do that on an annual basis. But certainly, the Queensland figures are up significantly to almost sixty-nine per cent and that is a seven per cent increase since December of last year. So, the Howard government’s policies are working particularly well in Queensland.
Reporter:
What do you attribute to actual increase to?
Abbott:
Plainly, this is a result of the government’s bulk billing incentive payments. Those payments were particularly targeted towards concession card holders and kids under sixteen and it’s interesting to note that the GP bulk billing rate for people over sixty-five is now about eighty-two per cent, a very substantial increase on just a year ago.
Reporter:
It will continue to increase?
Abbott:
I expect that it will continue to increase at least for the medium term. The government announced some further boosts to general practice in the recent election campaign. From the first of January this year, under one hundred per cent Medicare, GPs will receive one hundred per cent of the scheduled fee and this will help both bulk billing GPs and patients who don’t get bulk billed. So, I certainly expect that there will continue to be increases in the bulk billing rate in the next few quarters.
Reporter:
You mentioned the figures for older people. What about for young people? Are there … is there a break down for them?
Abbott:
Not at this stage, no. That’s not a figure that we have now for the September quarter, but certainly on the evidence, it looks like all of the groups that the bulk billing incentive payments are directed towards are getting strong increases in bulk billing and that the bulk billing rate overall is increasing strongly.
Reporter:
Because the doctors are going to be saying, of course, that they want more. Can Medicare cover that?
Abbott:
Doctors are human, like the rest of us, and most of think that we should be paid more. I mean, almost everyone wants a pay rise. But look, the government has invested a great deal of money in trying to boost GP incomes over the last twelve months. The incentives announced as part of the Medicare Plus package will boost the private medical income of the average GP by some fifteen thousand dollars a year, and there will be a comparable boost in the private medical income of the average GP from one hundred per cent Medicare, which comes into effect in January of next year.
So, the government has done a very great deal to boost doctors’ incomes, and it’s interesting that this is also the first quarter since 1998 when co-payments have declined. Not only have we had a strong rise in bulk billing over the last three quarters, but in this quarter - for the first time in six years - we have had an actual drop in the gap payment that people are paying, in the cases where their doctors don’t bulk bill.
Reporter:
Minister, can I ask you why have you chosen to make this announcement here at the Noosa Hospital?
Abbott:
Well, I happen to be on the Sunshine Coast today, and I thought this was an appropriate place to make the announcement, but obviously this hospital is slightly unusual in that it is a public private partnership. It’s a public hospital with private beds or a private hospital with public beds, and it’s an interesting innovation. I certainly think that hospitals like this have quite a great deal to offer our health system.
Reporter:
Has there been any more movement on the possibility of the federal government taking complete control of the state system?
Abbott:
The government is obviously very concerned to try to ensure that we have the best possible health system in Australia and at the very moment that he announced the new ministry after the election, the Prime Minister also announced a high level public service Taskforce headed by Dr Andrew Podger, a former Secretary of the Health Department, to look into the relationship, if you like, between the federal and state components of the health system, with a view to trying to ensure we have more seamless delivery of health services.
Now, the Podger Taskforce will be reporting to the government in good time for next year’s Council of Australian Government meeting, and health will be one of the very important topics on the agenda for that meeting. So certainly, the government has no plans to take over the state public hospital system, but we are very interested in doing whatever we reasonably can to try to ensure more seamless health service delivery. Okay?
Reporter:
So, why are you on the Sunshine Coast?
Abbott:
Well look, I’m on the Sunshine Coast first of all to talk to people about health services. I had some good meetings yesterday with local people, including local people who are interested in opening more bulk billing GP clinics. I have just had a good discussion with John Hadjis about the hospital here this morning. I congratulate the hospital on the intensive care unit that they’re about to open. But I also intend to have a couple of days off this weekend.
Reporter:
Fair enough.
Abbott:
Okay?
Reporter:
Thank you.
Abbott:
Thanks a lot.