ALI MOORE, JOURNALIST: Have you been able to find a doctor who bulk bills? Has it been a lot easier? The government says the number of GP services where people don't have to pay a gap fee has gone up. It's gone up by just over 2% and that's off the back of higher incentives that the government is paying. At the same time though, the GPs, they still want more funding.
Ged Kearney is the federal Assistant Minister for Health. Ged Kearney, welcome to the program.
GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks, Ali
MOORE: Before we get to bulk billing, I know that this is a state story, not a federal one, so it's not exactly in your purview, but do you have any thoughts about this story? Allegations that family and friends were put into beds at the Colac Area Health Urgent Care Clinic. It's being investigated by the Victorian Health Department. It was clearly because they were concerned it was a quiet day and the state Minister was attending and making an official visit. The Victorian Minister says she's worried if it is proved to be true, that it would be a breach of trust.
What are your thoughts?
KEARNEY: I think it's a very strange story. I'm really not quite sure about it because as you said it is a state story and out of my purview, but I think the Minister's comments are good. The fact that she's called the Department of Health inquiry, I think is appropriate.
It probably isn't really appropriate for me to comment any further on it. I'm not really sure of why or how or where. So, let's wait and see what the Department of Health, delves into.
MOORE: Yes, well, I think there's a lot of people waiting to see what exactly comes up.
Let’s look at bulk billing. There was $3.5 billion in the budget put towards trying to triple the bulk billing incentive. How much of that's actually been spent? We've got a 2.1% increase in bulk billing rates after how much investment?
KEARNEY: We've set aside $3.5 billion to triple the bulk billing incentive. This is the biggest investment we've seen in Medicare. I think in the history of it really. This is predominantly to increase bulk billing. I don't have figures in front of me right now, Ali, to tell you exactly how much of that has been expended to date, but I think the sign that bulk billing has risen, albeit by a modest amount is a good sign.
When Labor came to power, bulk billing was in free fall. Medicare was really at risk, under the previous government. And we have done a great deal to bolster it stop that free fall and hopefully we'll see a bit more or a rise even further in bulk billing. I think this is a good thing. Australians can be really confident that we are committed to protecting Medicare.
MOORE: We’ve seen these bulk billing rate statistic, what we haven't seen is what's happened to the average gap fee and what the socioeconomic breakdowns are of the bulk billing rates. I imagine that they are actually pretty key to showing you whether the money that you have spent so far is actually hitting the mark more broadly?
KEARNEY: Yes. Well, we're confident about these statistics because what these statistics show is the number of actual visits to a GP that are bulk billed and they're still sitting around 77.7% of all visits to a GP were bulk bill, in December. This is a good sign. I think that GPs have really taken to heart the government's plan to make sure that low-income families and pensioners and people who really need bulk billing are getting it.
I think overall our investment in Medicare – because it's not only the $3.5 billion to triple the bulk billing incentive, there was a $1.5 billion increase to the indexation to Medicare payments, meaning that doctors did get an increase in income. In rural and regional areas, where we know it’s really critical, we know that they get up to 50% more income for a standard bulk billed consultation - we are hoping that over time this rate will continue and that we'll continue to see an increase in bulk billing.
MOORE: Well, while the money has been committed, the president of the RACGP, the Royal Australian College of GPs, they still want more funding. They say that it's really that the system has suffered. It's been more than a decade of neglect and there's still a long way to go to fixing it. Is there more money? I mean is $3.5 billion enough to fix it, in your view?
KEARNEY: Well, increasing the bulk billing incentive and indexation is just part of really what we are doing to boost and strengthen Medicare. Our key focus is making Medicare affordable and available for as many Australians as we possibly can.
A big issue of course is workforce. We are really looking very carefully at how we can encourage more doctors to do general practice as a career. It used to be one in two - now it's only one in seven. This is a challenge for us and it's something we are working with the AMA on and the RACGP on that issue.
You would know that we've reduced the cost of medications. We know that people can now get two scripts for the cost of one.
We are really investing everything we can, and our absolute focus is on people's access to healthcare, and the patients.
MOORE: I've got a text here, Ged Kearney just pointing out that the stats that we're talking about - the 2% increase - is to do with the number of GP services where people are bulk billed, not visits. Does it equate to, you know- if you're going say there's a 2% increase - does that mean that's a 2% increase in visits of people going to see the doctor where they aren't having to pay a gap? Or it could be half the number of actual people because each person has two services that are charged. Do you have any sense of how many people are involved in this?
KEARNEY: No, actually this is not about services. The bulk billing rate measures the proportion of all GP visits that involved no payment. This means out of all the visits and consultations that GPs did, 77.7% of those were bulk billed. This is actually measuring GP visits.
MOORE: And when do we get the other statistics around where some of these changes have been made, the sort of socioeconomic information, that sort of thing? When does that come out?
KEARNEY: Yes. I think there is more work to be done on the data and analysis, but what we do know, interestingly, is that there has been an increase in rural and regional bulk billing rates. For example, in Victoria there was an 8% increase in bulk billing in Bendigo alone. This data isn't uniform across the country. We know that it's up and down, but it is really good news to us that there are some rural and regional areas who are really having a great outcome from these incentives.
MOORE: Ged Kearney, many thanks for joining Drive.
KEARNEY: My pleasure, Ali. Thanks for having me.
Media event date:
Date published:
Media type:
Transcript
Audience:
General public
Minister: